Shades of Grey: The Unseen World
by KarmaHope
Summary: -SEQUEL TO IN TRUTH, NONE OF IT WAS FICTION- It's been two years since Karmyn Dallas left the Elrics. After overcoming PTSD and withdrawal as well as learning alchemy and the combat arts, she finally feels that she's ready to rejoin the two men. They're out to get the Homunculi again , but is that threat masking a much larger, much more sinister, much more dangerous plot? -HIATUS-
1. Introduction

I used to think what my lot in life was.

That was before I found that

In Truth, None of it Was Fiction.

I came into this world

Through a twisted act of fate.

A dropped wallet,

No fault of my own.

**I lost everything that day.**

_Or so I thought._

My mother sacrificed herself

For me.

I will never see my best friend

Again.

**But all is not lost.**

_Not anymore._

This world has not

Been kind to me.

It has chewed me up

And spat me out

Multiple times.

It has broken me, yet

I have risen above it,

Like a phoenix from

The ashes.

**I have a purpose now**.

_And the means to pursue it._

I am not weak.

I am not helpless.

I will get past this,

And save this

**Screwed-up country**

_Once more._

We are living in

A blind reality.

We cannot see the future,

Or where we are going.

This is

The Unseen World.

But I will make it through,

And I will make sense of

What we cannot see.

I shall make clearer

These

Shades of Grey

That cloud our vision

Until we can see for ourselves

Once again

**What is Fact**

_And what is Fiction._


	2. Avoiding the Crowd Upon Their Return

Okay, all.

For those of you that just started this, this is the sequel to In Truth, None of it Was Fiction. I highly recommend that you read (all 67 chapters of) that one before starting this one. I can almost guarantee you that if you don't, you will be hopelessly lost and confused.

For those of you returning: Welcome back.

Updates for this story will probably be less frequent, due to the fact that I am trying to write longer chapters for you. This one is twice as long as one of my longer chapters for Truth and Fiction.

Well, that's about it. I hope you all enjoy the second installment in the _Shades of Grey_ trilogy.

Ignore the dates at the very bottom. That is for my reference, if I ever need it.

-O-o-O-

_The lone young woman stood in the center of the arena, breathing evenly. Her knees were bent, her feet a little more than shoulders' width apart. She was leaning forward slightly, keeping her weight centered in her middle. She had come so far now- it would be a waste to throw everything away because she couldn't keep her balance._

_Her hair was half-up, half-down. She kept the majority of it in a clip, but allowed her bangs to fall across her face on one side. Her blonde hair reflected the light of the sun that shined overhead. She was young, only about nineteen years of age. It was curious the way she wore her hair did nothing to hide the scars running down the side of her face, from her eyebrow to the corner of her mouth. It was as if she wore those marks as badges of honor for some great deed._

_The young woman was dressed for the weather, in a tank top and a knee-length skirt that would allow her a full range of motion. She had come in wearing a black floor-length jacket, but had since discarded that to the side of the arena. She was still wearing a pair of black leather gloves that contrasted greatly with her bare arms exposed by her top._

_From her position on the floor, she looked up to where the Fuhrer and his panel of 'judges' sat. There was a certain light in her unusual eyes that carried a kind of 'no-shit' attitude, conveying the confidence she had in her abilities. The young woman spoke, announcing her name and exam number before removing the gloves that she wore on her hands. _

_She clapped her hands together, emitting blue sparks . . ._

-O-o-O-

**4 June, 1919**

The streets of Amestris buzzed with news and activity, but there wasn't a town that was more alive than Central City.

It had been a momentous occasion that had occurred in Central Headquarters that week. After two long years of fighting and several long, tedious meetings, a treaty had finally been signed between the northern nation of Drachma and the country of Amestris to agree to a cease-fire. It was a tentative peace, and the conflict was still far from resolved. However, the Briggs Treaty had insured that it was safe for all soldiers fighting on the front lines to return home, at least for now.

Central City had thrown a joyous celebration, welcoming its returning soldiers as well as mourning the ones they had lost. There were signs and confetti and basically all-around rejoicing and relief among the streets of the busy city. Businesses had been closed down for the day, as the owners and managers had gone out to join the reverie. The soldiers basked in the glory and attention, riding down the streets of Central in military vehicles and full uniform. They were waving to their family and friends, and occasionally winking or blowing a kiss at their sweethearts. It was an occasion unlike anything else that had taken place in the capital of Amestris.

Among the bustle and noise of the town, no one noticed the two hooded figures slinking about in the shadows, sneaking past the celebration. The two of them were jostled around by overjoyed bodies, occasionally almost losing each other in the crowd. They drew their hoods tighter about them as they entered into brighter, more populated areas. They didn't want to risk the chance of someone recognizing them and drawing them into the celebration.

If somebody _had_ drawn their eyes away from the procession of soldiers and merry-making for long enough to observe the two mysterious figures, they would have recognized their identities immediately. They weren't the people that could be mistaken for someone else easily. After being called 'the heroes of Amestris' for so long in the nationwide newspapers, there wasn't anyone out there that wouldn't know the faces of the two young men.

Golden eyes met grey ones as the first man gestured off towards a shaded alleyway, motioning for the second one to follow him. He had his response in a curt nod, and the two of them broke off from the masses of people.

Minutes later, the mysterious figures were catching their breath in the back of the deserted alley. It had taken them the better part of an hour to maneuver their way through the crowds in Central, and they were frankly quite tired of it. They didn't care that they were supposed to be part of the grand procession- that wasn't their style. They'd rather sneak though the alleyways and get home without all the attention than go through the pomp and circumstance that was expected of them. That's just how they rolled.

"Brother?" the slightly shorter (but not by much) man asked questioningly, "do you think it's safe to remove our hoods here?"

The taller man sighed. "We'd best not, Al," he replied, "especially with all those people out there. If we want to make it back to Headquarters without being detained, we're going to need to continue to keep a low profile."

His brother- Al?- sighed in exasperation. "Tell me again why we didn't just delay our return until this mess has died down? It would have saved us a lot of trouble."

"It's not like we had a lot of choice," the golden-eyed man said, "I received a telegram from General Bastard saying that he needed us back at Central, pronto. Something to do with something. I wasn't paying attention. Maybe it had to do with the State Alchemist exams . . . I don't know. Do you think I listen?"

_I would hope you do_, his brother thought, _but I guess you don't_. "What would he need us to do for the exams? We're not nearly high enough to be on the panel of judges . . ." The other man was just as confused as the first one wasn't letting on. He had passed the same exam only a year ago. Sure, his brother had been a State Alchemist for eight or so years now, so he could possibly understand the request for him, but for both of them?

Something was up.

"Exactly," the elder of the two replied, "and I never want to be. It wasn't my idea to get involved with this dumbass war in the first place. If I had my way, I would have stayed clean out of it. But I felt that . . . you know . . ."

"Yeah," the younger one said, "we both felt that way."

A heavy silence fell over the both of them for a few minutes as they stood there in the alleyway. They both knew what the other one was thinking, but didn't want to say it out loud. They had been fighting for the same thing, hoping to get some answers that they had been promised but never been given. They were fighting for what now sometimes seemed was a figure of their imagination. They never talked about it, never mentioned it, never tried to remember it.

"Come on," Edward told his younger brother, "we shouldn't be standing around here for too long. The Hughes' house isn't far from here. We can stop in there for a little while. I'm sure Gracia and Elicia would be happy to know we're back."

"Elicia must be getting so big!" Alphonse exclaimed, "How old is she now? Six? Seven?"

"Probably seven," his brother replied, "I think her birthday's in February."

They didn't speak as they stepped out into the sunlight once more. Wincing slightly at the sudden increase in noise, Edward quickly darted his way around the back of the crowd. Occasionally glancing back at Alphonse, he made sure that his brother was still behind him. It really wouldn't be a good thing to lose one another in this crowd, especially since they were supposed to be what the crowd was celebrating about.

Edward was twenty years old now, with his brother at the age of nineteen. It had originally felt odd to them, growing older after living for so many years without aging. Ed had finally grown taller, now reaching an inch or so above his brother. His facial features had matured some, but were still quite similar to what they had been but a few years ago. He still kept his hair long, though he tied it back in a ponytail rather than a braid these days.

He had also refused to give up his red coat. He had since toned down the red until it was more of a maroon color, and changed the cut slightly so that it was a bit more mature-looking. However, it was still the red jacket that he had been wearing since he was fifteen. It was basically a part of him now, and he couldn't give that up for anything.

Alphonse too had matured in the two years. He was taller as well, although he wasn't quite as tall as his brother now. Personally, he was glad that Edward was taller than he was. After being called 'short' all through his teen years, he deserved to be taller for once. Al also kept the haircut he had over the years, finding it easier to manage shorter hair. He had lost all traces of any baby fat that he had held as a teenager, giving his face a more refined look.

He too wore the jacket that he had begun wearing upon his return to Amestris, the one with the flamels on the shoulders. His was kept mostly the same, as it hadn't been an obnoxious color to begin with. The cut had changed as his brother's had, and that was about it.

Most thankfully, he had finally gotten over his insomnia over the years. His body had finally adjusted to being human again, and with its return to its correct dimension and speed, had finally settled into a pattern. For this, he was extremely thankful. Ninety years of insomnia had been enough for him.

The two men hugged the sides of the buildings, staying as much in the shadows as possible. They had been doing so well in avoiding attention- they wanted to keep it that way. They were almost at the entrance to the Hughes' house when they paused, looking back at the parade for just a moment.

They recognized most of the men on the vehicles, as they had lived and fought with them for almost two years now. This guy had been the one that had to have mashed potatoes with everything. That guy was the one that was paranoid about keeping his gun clean. The other one there had snored like an angry bear, keeping them all awake at night.

Edward didn't want to have known all those people. He didn't want to be mixed up with military affairs like going to war. Then again, he didn't want to sit around and do nothing, either. Fighting, at least, gave him something to do. The one thing he was thankful for was that he hadn't been forced to wear the military uniform. That was one thing that he refused to give in to.

They eventually tore their eyes away from the procession and quickly entered the apartment complex that the Hughes family lived in. Carefully, they made their way up the stairs to their front door. Alphonse knocked a few times, and the two of them were left waiting as they heard noises inside.

The door opened for them, and they looked down to see Elicia, who was now at least seven years old. She looked back up at them and examined their faces under the hoods for a few minutes. She looked back and forth between them, obviously calculating something in her head.

"Honey, who is it?" Gracia asked, walking out to join her daughter. She held a dishtowel in her hands, having just come from the kitchen.

A light dawned in the little girl's eyes. "Big brother?" she asked wonderingly, looking at Al. "Little big brother?"

Edward grimaced and clenched his flesh hand at still being called 'little,' but he managed to put a smile on his face and bend down so that he was eye-to-eye with the young girl. "I'm not so little anymore, Elicia," he told her.

Elicia threw her arms around him in a large hug, which the young man returned. He then stood up, facing the girl's mother.

"Edward? Alphonse? I shouldn't be surprised," Gracia said with a small smile on her face, "You always have returned after years of being away, when I least expect it. Come in," she told them.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hughes," Alphonse said gratefully as the two Elrics and Elicia followed the woman into the apartment.

It wasn't much later that they were all sitting around the kitchen table, hot tea and coffee for the adults, juice for Elicia. The Elrics had taken off the dark cloaks that they had been wearing outside, leaving them lying across the arm of the couch in the living room. In this house, they didn't have to hide from anyone.

"So what brings you boys to my door instead of the hype outside?" Gracia asked curiously, "Not ones for parties?"

"You could say that," Edward responded, "I don't like how they pretend like it's some big honor to return home from war. It's really not. People died out there. It's not an honor to come back. It's just luck. It could've easily been you that didn't return, but you were lucky and got to live while your comrade five feet to the left of you was ghosted because they were there and not where you were. It has nothing to do with skill. It's just luck."

"And you two got lucky," Gracia said, nodding along with what Edward was saying.

"Yes," Alphonse said, "yes, we did."

Silence fell for a few minutes before Elicia spoke up.

"Mommy! Mommy! Tell them the message! Big Sister told us to!" she exclaimed, kicking her feet back and forth underneath the table.

"Oh! That's right," her mother remembered, "I had almost forgotten."

"Big Sister? Message?" Alphonse asked curiously. He didn't understand what the two Hughes girls were talking about.

"A few days ago, right after the Briggs Treaty was signed, a young woman stopped by and told us that if you stopped by here to tell you to go to the Central Library. She didn't say why, but that was the message we were given," Gracia explained.

"What did she look like?" Edward asked, a small idea formulating in his head.

"Oh, I don't remember," the older woman said, brushing him off. "She was wearing some hooded thing like the ones you were wearing today. She didn't stay long- didn't even step inside. She just gave us the message and left."

The Elrics looked at each other, wondering if they could trust what the mystery woman had said. They would decide that later. For now, they would just relax and avoid the hubbub that was outside.

"Can we stay here for the night?" Edward asked, "or at least until things have died down outside?"

"Certainly," Gracia said, "You know you're always welcome. I think the guest room is set up. Do you have any of your things?"

The Elrics shook their heads. "No," Al answered, "we had them shipped to Central ahead of time."

"Alright then. Let me go see if the room is ready. I trust that you can find some way to amuse yourselves until then?"

The Elrics smiled. They could do that, especially with Elicia.

-O-o-O-

_She sat in the library, poring over tomes and tomes of information. There must be something there she could use. Every time the door opened, she glanced up to see who it was that entered. She was disappointed every time. Maybe they weren't coming today, either. Maybe not even tomorrow. Maybe she was clinging to a false hope, a remnant of who she was back then. She would give it one more day. One more day, and then she would move on. For good._

-O-o-O-

That night, the Elrics sat in the bedroom they were given. Neither of them felt like sleeping quite yet, despite the fact that both Gracia and Elicia were already asleep. There was a peaceful feeling in the late spring air, one that the two boys hadn't felt in a long time. There was no such thing as peace when you're in the middle of a war, but now that the war was temporarily over, they could finally take the time to relax.

"What now?" Alphonse asked the darkness, "The war is over, at least for now. Where do we go?"

That was a good question. For the first time in years, the Elrics were faced with a period of nothingness. They had no philosopher's stone to search for, they had no homunculi to defeat, they didn't need to search for a way to get home, they weren't helping . . . anyone else, they weren't fighting in the war. It was a situation that they were completely unaccustomed to.

"I dunno, Al," Edward replied back to him, staring up at the ceiling. "I guess after we do this thing in Central we actually need to settle down somewhere. Buy a house, whatever. Live like the rest of the population does."

It was something that Edward was really not looking forward to. He was not the type of person to stay in one place for very long. He couldn't see himself settling down in a house. He had lived out of his travelling case and hotel rooms since he was twelve. Every now and then he would return to his military quarters, but not very often. Usually only to drop off or retrieve stuff. He guessed that he would get to know the place a little bit better now that he had no reason to be off doing this that or the other thing.

The two of them talked of meaningless drabble for a while longer, only wishing to fill the silence. Silence brought on thoughts, and thoughts weren't always a good thing, especially in the last few years. They could distract a man on the battlefield, or leave him unfocused before a fight. An unfocused man was a dead man, and the Elrics had wished to avoid that dreary outcome.

It wasn't too long after that before the both of them finally fell asleep for the night. Soon the only sounds that could be heard among the apartment were the soft snoring of the elder Elric brother and the late-night activity out on the streets below.

Morning came way too early for anyone's taste. It was the first time that the two alchemists had gotten an undisturbed night's sleep in a long time. Thus, when the world began to lighten again, neither of them really wanted to get up. Unfortunately, the city was already awake and going about its business, making it difficult to fall back to sleep.

Edward opened his eyes blearily, blinking a few times to clear his vision. Upon habit, he looked over to where Alphonse slept. He knew that he was being silly- his baby brother was nineteen now, and could take care of himself- but old habits died hard. Actually, this particular morning, he was surprised. His brother had already gotten up, leaving the bed quite empty.

Rubbing his eye, Edward trekked out into the main living quarters. He found Alphonse already out there, looking out one of the windows overlooking the city. In the distance, one could see the tower building of Central Headquarters looming over the rest of the city like some sort of God Protector. If you believed in that. In the sunlight, its light coloring practically shone.

Unfortunately, the day that dawned was anything but sunny. The fair weather that had blessed the parade the day before had refused to hold out, dropping a drenching rainstorm in its wake. The rain didn't show any signs of letting up any time soon. If anything, it began to fall heavier as the two men watched it.

Al hadn't noticed his brother approach him from behind, so when the elder Elric joined him at the window, he jumped slightly before seeing who it was.

"You couldn't have given me some indication that you were about to care the wits out of me?" the grey-eyed man asked his brother.

"Nope," Edward yawned, covering his mouth. "What would the fun be in that?"

Al just shook his head. Sometimes he still couldn't understand his brother sometimes. Glancing over at him, he decided to pointedly not tell him that his antenna was extremely noticeable that morning, and that the rest of his hair was all mussed up as well.

"I guess that's where we're headed today," the man continued oblivious to his brother's thoughts, "Central HQ. Haven't been there in a while."

"It figures that it would choose today to absolutely downpour," Alphonse said quietly, "we'll be a sight, walking into Central drenched."

Edward shrugged. "We've gotten weirder looks before."

That much was true. Apparently a short guy with a strange fashion sense walking with a seven-foot-tall suit of armor wasn't a common sight in most places . . . who knew?

"We could just wait, you know," Al suggested. "It's not like it's going to kill anyone if we wait another day before heading out."

"Normally, I would agree with that. I hate walking in the rain as much as the next person," Ed replied, "but then there was also that message that Gracia told us about. The woman asked us to meet her in the National Central Library. It sounds as if that message was passed along a while ago."

"And so you don't want to keep her waiting," his brother finished for him. "But how do we know this isn't a trap? I know that Lust is dead and Envy's dead, so there shouldn't really be anyone else out there that wants to kill us . . . and if we could trust her, then why didn't she give us a name?"

It did seem a bit suspicious. They just returned from the war in Drachma, and this woman had known exactly where they would go first. She'd gotten there early, and told Gracia to pass along the message. She'd been wearing a dark cloak, and hadn't given a name, either. Who was to say that she didn't have sinister plans? And then there was the fact that she asked them to meet her at the Central Library . . . was she going to sneak in? Access was prohibited to anyone that didn't have a State Alchemist certification.

"You're right," Ed consented to his brother, "we don't know if this is safe or not. However, we do know that there are two of us, and only one of her . . . we think. If we had to protect ourselves, we could. And she may have information that we might need in the near future."

"Amestris should be safe!" Alphonse exclaimed, "We eliminated the homunculi, the war with Drachma is at a cease-fire, Grumman is Fuhrer, although he may be retiring soon . . . what else could there be?"

"Al," Edward said, turning away from the window, "if there's one thing I've learned throughout all of our travels, it's this- in a country as screwed up as ours has been, there is _never_ such a thing as being completely safe."

With that, the older Elric began making his way to the bathroom, presumably to clean himself up a bit in order to look acceptable to the outside world.

Back at the window, Al continued to stare out at the deluge of water. This was no ordinary rainstorm- it was a straight-out downpour. "Yeah," he whispered after his brother was gone, "I guess you're right."

-o-O-o-

_6.21.2012_

_6.23.2012_


	3. A Mysterious Message Leads to Thoughts

I said that I wasn't going to post this before I had written the next one, but I also told myself that if I got 30 reviews that I would post it anyway. I got 30 reviews. The next chapter will be a bit longer in coming because I don't have it finished yet, and I'm stuck as for how to really write their first meeting. Soo . . . yeah. I hope you enjoy this one, though.

Blanket reminder for this entire story: I do not own FMA. Yes, Karmyn is my OC. Yes, this is my original plot. But I do not own anything that originally appeared in FMA.

-O-o-O-

_No one stared so much anymore at the woman sitting in the back corner of the National Central Library. When she had first arrived, she had been the subject of many curious glances. Had they ever had a female State Alchemist before? They must have! Still, with the looks that she was getting, she wasn't so sure._

_After she had shown up regularly for a few days in a row, the whole abnormality of it had died down. The workers of the library and its frequent residents had gotten used to the sight of the young woman bent over some sort of tome. It was a good thing that no one ever really got close enough to hear her, though. She would be getting stranger looks if someone ever overheard her muttering in a language unknown to anyone else. _

_Sometimes, she would forego the tome and instead just sit there with a chart in front of her, copying words down over and over again. Oftentimes, she would get frustrated and curse under her breath at the sheer difficult necessity of it._

_In a way, she appreciated the way that no one approached her. It left her to do what she needed to do alone, without any distractions. She knew that she needed to stop- she had been going at it for days on end now. She really didn't want to revert back to the way she had been doing things before. _Never again_, she had sworn after she had gotten past that point in her life._

_And here she was, going back to that._

_At least she was _aware_ that what she was doing was wrong. At least she knew that her bad decisions were bad decisions. And if things got too bad, she could stop._

_But it didn't matter at the moment. She was waiting, anyway. While she waited, there wasn't much else to do but study. _

_So she did._

-O-o-O-

**5 June, 1919**

It was depressing, almost. It was as if the rain wasn't just pounding upon the rooftops and sidewalks, but also onto the people's pride and spirit. Below him, Alphonse watched as the figures went among their businesses with heads bowed and rainjackets wrapped tightly around themselves. No one stopped to talk with anyone else on the street, instead plowing right by their neighbors without so much as a glance. Even indoors, Al could feel the atmosphere affecting him as well.

He pushed himself away from the window quickly, turning his back on the thundering rain. He shook his head a bit, as if to dispel the weight that had fallen upon him. Once he was mostly himself again, he walked into the main living area to find Gracia, who was already up and making breakfast.

"Morning, Mrs. Hughes," he said brightly, putting a smile on his face.

Gracia looked over to where the voice had come from. Upon seeing Alphonse, she smiled as well. "Good morning, Alphonse. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did, thank you." Al walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, wrapping himself in his coat to ward of the chilled morning air. He crossed his legs at the knees and leaned slightly forward in his chair, making himself comfortable.

"That's good to hear. Is your brother up yet?" the woman asked as she continued to flip pancakes on the stove. They smelled delicious, and Al realized just how hungry he was.

He nodded, but then quickly realized that Gracia couldn't see him from where she was standing. "Yep," he said instead, "last I saw him he was headed toward the bathroom."

"Well, you might want to go tell him that breakfast is about to be served," she said as she slid the last couple pancakes onto the large plate. It looked as if she had made enough food to feed an army, at least for a few minutes.

"Did someone say anything about food?" a voice interrupted from behind them, "I'm starved."

It was Edward, looking slightly better than he had a few minutes ago. His clothes were still slightly rumpled, but as were Al's- there was nothing that could be done about that. His hair looked as if it had been brushed out, and then retied back into its ponytail. It hadn't been the cleanest job, but it wasn't the messiest ever by far. If one looked closely, they could see a tiny bit of blond stubble on his chin as well. That too was matched on Al- again, nothing could be done about it at that moment.

"Yes, we did," Gracia said in response to the older Elric's question, "come eat."

Ed sat down at the table across from Al, exchanging quick glances with his brother as they were prone to do. Over the years since Alphonse had ended up back in his own body, they had quickly grown to know exactly what the other was thinking with a look. It was a useful skill to have, especially when there were people around that they didn't want to hear them. The brothers felt sometimes that they were even closer than most twins were.

As of the moment, they were thinking along the same lines. They were tired, happy to be home, disappointed that it was raining, and wondering about the odd message that Gracia had given them. They looked away from each other as Gracia came over to them with the pile of pancakes. They each thanked her, and began to help themselves. Al took two while Ed had four on his plate. Al mentally sighed, shaking his head ruefully. The twenty-year-old's appetite hadn't changed much. Luckily, his manners had slightly improved.

It was then that Edward took note of something. "Where's Elicia?" he asked curiously.

"She's still asleep," Gracia said, taking a seat at the third side of the table. "She usually doesn't wake up for another half hour to an hour or so."

Considering that it was around seven o'clock now, it made sense. They had hoped to see the little girl before they left that morning, but it looked as if it were unlikely. As much as they would have liked to wait before taking off, they really didn't want to stay for longer than was necessary. Not only did they not want to impose upon the small family any more than they already had, they also needed to get to Central Headquarters (unfortunately).

They fell silent for the rest of the meal, as they didn't really have much to talk about. For the next ten minutes, all that could be heard was the clang of forks on plates and the general sound of eating.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hughes," Edward said when he finished, standing up. He took his plate over to the sink and placed it inside. Soon after, Al did the same.

"When are you boys leaving again?" Gracia asked as she too stood up.

"We don't want to trouble you anymore than we already have," Ed replied, "we'll probably go in a few minutes."

"It's no trouble," the woman told them, "it's always a pleasure when you stop by. Please, never feel that you're taking up too much of our time."

The two brothers smiled. The widowed wife of Maes Hughes was probably still the most motherlike figures they'd had in the past years after Granny Pinako. They still felt responsible for what had happened years earlier, despite how many times she told them it wasn't their fault. They felt a certain connection to the woman and her young daughter, and tried to stop by at least once each time they were in Central.

"Alright," the elder Elric said, still smiling. "We'd better get out of here and down to Central before they send someone out after us. It was nice seeing you again," he added.

"You too," the woman said, "You boys take care of yourselves now."

"We can't make any promises," Edward cracked. Hey, it was kind of true . . .

"Mommy?" a sleepy voice came from the hallway, "are big brothers still here?" Elicia stepped out into their view, rubbing her eye tiredly.

"They were just about to leave," Gracia told her daughter, "how about you say goodbye?"

Elicia stopped rubbing her eye and looked at the two Elrics standing in front of the door. Suddenly, she ran forward and grabbed the nearest one (Alphonse) in a large seven-year-old's hug.

"You'll come back soon, right?" she asked, looking up at him with large green eyes. Her hair was down, falling over her shoulders.

"Of course we will," Al told her, "we're probably gonna be around a lot more often now that the war is done. We don't' really have anywhere else to be."

"Yay!" she exclaimed before running over to Edward and giving him a hug as well. After that, she returned to where her mother stood. She waved at them as they turned to the door and opened it. The both of them waved back, smiling. There was just something about the girl that made you want to smile.

"Oh, and Edward, Alphonse," Gracia said suddenly. Both Elrics looked back at her inquiringly, and she smiled softly, a sad light coming into her eyes. "You choose your friends well. I have never seen anyone work so hard for someone for such a simple reason. Remember that, alright?"

The curiosity slowly changed to confusion in Al's eyes, but Edward nodded, a wry smile forming on his lips. "Okay," he said, "Goodbye!"

"Bye!"

The door closed behind them, and Al immediately turned to his brother. "What was that about?" he asked, "who was she talking about?"

Edward sighed. "I have a feeling that we're going to find out," he said. He still had one corner of his mouth turned up and there was an apprehensive look in his eye, slightly betraying the fact that he may know more than he was letting on to his brother.

Al noticed this, but decided to let it go. The likelyhood that his brother was going to actually tell him what he knew in this case was slim-to-nothing. Edward was like that- he would know something, but would refuse to divulge the information until it was necessary. It was usually trivial information that wouldn't hurt anyone, and that was the only reason why he wouldn't tell. They shared everything important with each other, but they still each had their own little secrets.

Still, there was something about his facial expression that made Al suspect that it wasn't as trivial as the little things prior. He couldn't say what it was, but there was definitely something different. What had Mrs. Hughes said? _You choose your friends well. I have never seen anyone work so hard for someone for such a simple reason. _Why must she be so cryptic? He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Whatever. It wasn't worth the headache at the moment. And apparently, Ed thought that they were going to find out anyway.

"Dammit!" Edward swore, bringing Alphonse out of his thoughts. They were standing at the front door of the apartment building now, but had not yet made a move to open the door.

"What is it, brother?" he asked, somewhat taken aback by his brother's outburst. He was used to them by now, but it was still disconcerting when he had been somewhere else entirely in his head.

"Al, we don't have an umbrella. And it's pouring out there, remember?"

Oh. Right. That.

"Ah, well. I guess we'll just have to run for it. It's not our fault if we have to show up in front of General Bastard and drip on his floors."

Yes, Edward still used the nickname for the Colonel that he had been using since he was fifteen. Just another blatant defiance of the rules. Of course, if he called any other officer by such a rude name, he would most likely be court-marshaled. Mustang had threatened him multiple times, but never followed through with it. Even at twenty, Edward just couldn't bring himself to be respectful.

It was quite amusing, actually.

Not that Al would ever admit that.

"Come on Al, let's go. We should probably go to our rooms first. We can dry off our clothes there and change."

_You know, we could just take a cab_, Al thought, but it was too late as his brother darted out into the rainy streets. Sometimes Ed just didn't stop to _think_.

The two brothers, practically adults, made quite a scene as they ran through the streets of Central. They ran past all the people in cold drab colors with their heads down and rainjackets pulled tight. They ducked and weaved between various umbrellas and other obstacles in their path. They were two splotches of color among the sea of greys.

Edward could have laughed at the pure joy of it. It was almost if he was fifteen again, running through the streets to avoid another psycho murderer. Fortunately, this time there was no psycho murderer- only him and his brother and the rain. And the people who stared after them as if _they _were psycho. Sometimes, he felt a lot younger than he actually was. Sometimes he would wake up in the morning and forget that he was already an adult. Sometimes, he wished that he _was_ still fifteen.

This was one of those times. He looked behind him, checking to see that his brother was still there. Again, he didn't have to- it was just that old habits die hard. As he ran, it hurt to think that he may never _have_ to run through the streets like this again. True, the had said that Amestris was never safe, but what if he was wrong?

It was insane, really. Most people would be ecstatic if they were in his situation. After years and years of fighting to save themselves and Amestris, of living in the dark, faced with some sort of mystery that they had to solve, most people would be thrilled to get a break. They would actually settle down somewhere, start a family. Maybe enlist in regular military duty or get an actual job.

You know, the civilian lifestyle.

He had tried that. For ninety years, he had lived as a civilian. It just didn't cut it for him. As much as he hated it, he loved the thrill of always being on his toes. He loved fighting the unconventional enemies, and getting past the roadblocks in his path.

He loved having _purpose_ to his life.

Already, he missed the adrenaline rush that he got as he transmuted his automail, prepared for a fight. He missed running for his life. He missed the mystery and intrigue of insidious plots. He was going to have a tough time adjusting to the new lifestyle.

He didn't know if Alphonse felt the same way or not. True, he had been beside him throughout all of his adventures, but was that because the younger man actually wanted to be there? Or was he just dragged along due to the circumstances?

It had been Al that had decided that he wanted to go for a State Alchemist title. Ed had worked with him for a year to help him master the unique form of alchemy that he had been itching to try out ever since he had arrived back in Amestris. Still, was that only because he was being dragged along with Ed?

He would have to ask him about it as soon as he had the chance. Depending on the answer, they would decide where to go from there.

For now, the two of them just raced through the streets as if they didn't have a care in the world, even though they were just running to get through the rain.

-O-o-O-

_A young library worker approached her cautiously, as if she thought that she would bite._

_She sighed. Just how long would people be afraid of her? She smiled and kept her composure as she asked the girl what it was that she was there for._

"_Telephone for you, Ma'am. A Ms. Ava Ricenna is calling."_

_She thanked the poor frightened girl before standing up. She glanced over the papers on the desk, making sure that she could leave them all there safely. There were some things that other people weren't meant to see. Satisfied that it was safe, she quickly pushed her chair in and went to the front desk, where one of the telephones was on hold for her._

"_Yes? Ava?" She asked after picking it up, keeping her voice low. Like her work, there were some things that other people weren't meant to hear, either._

"_First off, darling, I'd like to congratulate you on your _thrilling_ success. How does it feel?"_

"_Cut the crap, Av. Have you found any of your dolls yet?"_

"_Actually, yes. I have, girlie. In my _china cabinet_, of all places. I can't believe I was that _slow_ at realizing that," the woman said. "I'd think that I would remember that I had put it in such a silly place."_

_She was so happy, she could have yelled. Finally! Results!_

"_Thank you, Ava. I'll be over in a little bit with some friends to help you retrieve it."_

"_Oh, yeah. That's right. Did they ever show up to your little birthday party?"_

"_No," she said sadly, "I'm still hoping, though."_

"_Well, good luck with that, darling." The woman on the other end of the line exhaled. "You used to be such a sweet little girl," she said, "What happened, cutie?"_

_She smirked, pulling one corner of her mouth in. "You, of all people, should know that," she said._

"_Be careful. I'd hate to see a girl as cute as you get hurt."_

"_You're slipping out. I'm hanging up now. Talk to you later, Av."_

"_Later, Brighteyes."_

_She rolled her eyes at her friend's nickname for her. It didn't matter, though. She had information! There was really no time to lose._

-O-o-O-

By the time the two young men burst into Edward's rooms at Central, they were soaked through to the bone. Their clothes clung to them as if they were a second skin, plastering their body. Edward's bangs were in his face, sticking to his skin so he would have to peel the hair off and shove it away from his eyes. Only after he let it go, it flopped right back to where it had been before, sticking to his cheeks once again.

He let out a loud huff of annoyance. "Alright. I'm gonna go have a shower and get changed. I'll be quick, then you can go."

Alphonse nearly laughed at his brother's misfortune, but he refrained from doing so. "Okay," he agreed, running a hand back through his own rather damp hair.

Ed spotted his suitcase sitting underneath the window, and he quickly strode over to it. Kneeling, he clicked it open and removed a white broad-shouldered tank top and a pair of black pants. He had long since ditched the leather pants and the all-black getup, though he still had black in his wardrobe. He still oftentimes preferred tank tops to regular shirts, except in the wintertime. He also kept a black jacket as well, but again, the cut had changed to make it look a bit more mature. He still wore boots, but they weren't the black and red ones anymore- they were just regular combat boots.

Alphonse just wore a t-shirt and trousers most of the time- he hadn't needed to undergo a massive wardrobe change.

With that, Edward fled into the bathroom, leaving Al in the room. Al actually owned his own rooms now, a little further down the hall. However, he usually kept those locked up and preferred to stay with his brother. Now that he had some time to spare, he grabbed the keys from where he had left them in a drawer by his bed and left the room to visit his own.

He must have been a sight, wandering down the halls of the military quarters sopping wet. Luckily, there was no one else around to see him. As he walked down the hall, however, he saw that the room that lay between his and Edward's rooms, on the opposite side of the corridor, had finally been assigned to someone. It was a pointless observation, as he really didn't care, but it was an observation all the same.

When he got to his room, he quickly unlocked it and stepped inside. Once he turned the lights on, he wondered why exactly he had decided to come down here in the first place. The room was basically empty, home to only a little bit of stuff that they hadn't wanted to keep in the other room. There wasn't much of it- the Elrics had always packed light. Still, there were Edward's old clothes (the black and red ensemble) that he didn't wear anymore, some of Al's clothes, and in one corner, the helmet from the suit of armor that Al used to call himself.

He didn't really need to keep it, but he did. The rest of the armor had been scrapped after being held onto by the military for a few years, but they had given Al the choice to keep it. Instead of keeping the entire thing, he only kept the helmet. It felt wrong to discard entirely of something that had basically been who he was for years.

Al sat there in the silence for a few minutes more, listening to the rain drumming down on the roof. Finally, he got cold enough in his wet things that he decided it was best to go back. He exited the room and locked it before walking back down the hall, once again noting the now-occupied room. He didn't stop to read the name on the plate next to the door- he just saw that it was there.

Edward was sitting on the bed when Al reentered the room, his hair loose so that it would dry faster. "Bathroom's free," he said, not looking up from the book he had stuck his nose in.

"I could tell," he replied, almost dryly. He quickly gathered some dry clothes and made his way into the bathroom.

It was a book that Ed had read before, so he wasn't all that engaged in it. Still, it was something to do. There wasn't much in the way of entertainment in the military dorms. Mentally, he wondered what to do. There was the message that the mysterious woman had given to Gracia and the summons from the General. The soldier in him told him to report to the General first, but something also told him that he should investigate the summons to the library first.

There was also what Gracia had told them before they left- "You choose your friends well. I have never seen anyone work so hard for someone for such a simple reason. Remember that, alright?" He felt that she had meant something more behind that. Not only that, but he thought he knew who she was talking about. Who else had they become friends with in the past few years?

It had to be _her_ that she had been referring to. The girl that had taken off after being nearly killed two years ago. They hadn't seen her since, nor heard anything about her. It was as if she had just vanished off the face of the planet. Or at least, it would have been.

He had actually run into her, six months after she had left them. Al didn't know- he had never told his younger brother, in fear of hurting him even more. He had only exchanged a few words with her, but it had been enough. She had efficiently dismissed him, saying that she couldn't- wouldn't- rejoin them. Not yet.

She had work to do first. She was in no condition to go anywhere, and wouldn't go anywhere until that had been changed. But perhaps since then, things _had_ changed.

In that moment, his mind was made up.

He stood up as his brother exited the bathroom, snapping his book closed and tossing it onto the small end table nearby. "Come on, Al. We're going to take our chances with the library. General Bastard can wait. It sounded like that woman had given them the message a while ago- we don't really want to keep her waiting any longer."

"Okay, brother," Alphonse consented, somewhat taken aback by his brusque tone. When his brother made up his mind, it was oftentimes hard to change it. And anyway, not that he would admit it, but Al was also curious about this woman. It could very well mean danger to the both of them, but what was life without a little bit of danger?

"We're going to get wet again," Al pointed out. Edward just shrugged.

"It's not like it's going to kill us. Besides, it's only a short way to the library. We won't get _as_ wet. And then we really do get to show up and drip on General Bastard's floor," he said, almost gleefully at that last prospect.

"You really are going to get court-marshaled one of these days," Al warned his older brother, who merely shrugged.

"The General won't do that. He relies on me too much." Ed said confidently. Al merely rolled his eyes.

-O-o-O-

They were indeed wet when they arrived at the National Central Library New First Branch. It wasn't the soaked-to-the-bone wet that they had been earlier, but it still looked like they had been rained on. The two of them stopped for a moment to look at the new building. It had been the major construction job since the Elrics had disappeared, building a new library in the place of the old one that the Homunculi had burned down. They had done a good job, it seemed. If it was sunny out, the white stone would have gleamed in the light.

The two men stepped underneath the overhang, getting out of the rain. Luckily, it looked as if it would be letting up soon. If they were fortunate, it will have cleared up before it was time for them to leave. They faced the grandiose doors apprehensively, albeit for different reasons.

Alphonse still wasn't sure if this was a trap or not. Things seemed awfully suspicious. A mysterious woman shows up at the Hughes' house, gives Gracia a message to give to them, and leaves. Later, Edward loses all his own misgivings about the odd message and insists that they start here first. Things just weren't adding up correctly, at least in his mind.

Edward, on the other hand, was worried that his suspicions would turn out to be incorrect. Maybe the woman wasn't who he thought she was. Maybe he had gotten his hopes up for nothing. Maybe he should have warned his brother about who they may encounter inside. But then again, maybe it was better that he hadn't, in case he was wrong.

_And what would he say to her if he was right?_

He didn't want to think of that.

"Come on Al," he said finally, "let's get this over with."

Al simply nodded.

The two of them pushed open the doors of the building, showing their State Alchemist watches to the guards that stood inside. There used to only be guards posted outside, but in light of the destruction of the Old First Branch, it seemed that they had upped the amount of security.

The room in front of them was vast, filled with winding corridors formed by towering bookshelves. Even though it was still fairly early in the morning, the library was already bustling with activity. Workers weaved their way among the shelves, replacing books and files that had been taken out. Various other members of the military sat at the tables and in the chairs provided, looking over their notes, records, or other such things.

Looking for one person, especially one person that they didn't entirely know what she looked like, was going to be near-on impossible.

"Where do we even start?" Al asked, looking around him at his surroundings.

Ed, too, scanned the immense room they were in. Simply observing, he saw the way people's eyes occasionally darted over to one corner of the room. He could see the low murmurs that were passed between people. Somehow, he knew that what he was looking for was there.

Before he could say anything to his brother, though, a hauntingly familiar voice broke into their consciousness.

"So. You actually came," the soft feminine voice said.

The Elrics both immediately looked toward the source of the sound, and there, right in front of them, leaning casually against a bookshelf, was the woman they had avoided thinking about for the past two years.

The girl that had gotten them home.

The girl that had been their friend and comrade.

The girl that had run away when things got bad.

Karmyn Marie Dallas.

-O-o-O-

_6.24.2012_

_6.26.2012_


	4. Losing Tempers Leads to Losing Friends?

It's a slightly shorter chapter, but I hope that you enjoy it all the same. I hope I was able to write this event to the standard you expected . . . the chapter probably isn't as good, because I wasn't really able to proofread it. And it's like 90 degrees out right now. Ah, well. I hope there weren't too many mistakes.

You guys are amazing. Almost 50 review with two and a bit chapters? That's awesome. You all make me so happy.

I actually rewrote this chapter like halfway through. If you want to see the original one, I can post it up at some point.

Still can't scan things in . . . I hope to fix that soon, because I have some epic pictures that I did like a year ago but haven't been able to post due to spoilers. And then I have one of Al carrying Karmyn out of the compound from the last story. I'll get that up soon!

-O-o-O-

"_How long would it take me to heal?" She asked as she lay on the operating table._

_The old lady hummed in thought. "Well, I can't tell you for sure, as I've never done something like this before," she said, "but I'm guessing around two or three months. You'll have limited use of your fingers for the first month, and it will hurt for the second . . . I'd say it will take three months or so for you to heal entirely."_

_The girl on the table bit her lip. Three months would be a long time, especially when she really wanted to get going as quickly as possible. Still, it was better to do it right than to not do it at all. She was prepared for a lot of reading in the coming months._

"_Alright," she said, "let's do this."_

_It wasn't much longer before she was under the influence of the anesthesia. She knew that she wouldn't be under when it was time to attach the little metal pieces, but at least she wasn't awake when they made her left hand match her right._

-O-o-O-

**5 June, 1919**

He thought he could handle this, especially since he had already somewhat expected it.  
_She thought she could handle this, especially since she had been expecting it for days now._

Yet, when he faced the girl he had known years ago, his rational thought went flying out the window.  
_Yet, when she faced the guy she had known years ago, she couldn't think of anything to say._

What had she been thinking?  
_What were they thinking now?_

Could it have been that she hadn't trusted them?  
_Could they ever trust her again after this?_

It had been like she had fallen off the face of the Earth.  
_It's not like she could say that she had been avoiding them._

Whatever she was doing, they could have helped her.  
_If they had known what she was doing, they would have tried to stop her._

What was she hiding behind those green and blue eyes of hers?  
_What were they hiding behind those grey and gold eyes of theirs?_

Why had she chosen to meet them at the library?  
_Was the library really such a good idea after all?_

What now?  
_Well, this is awkward._

-O-o-O-

The two parties stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Grey and gold met blue and green, and the tension that lay between them could be cut with a knife. Karmyn took in the view of the Elrics, while the Elrics laid eyes upon her for the first time in years.

Karmyn honestly didn't know what to say. No, scratch that. She knew what she _had_ to say, she just didn't know _how_ to say it. She honestly doubted that these two men trusted her anymore, and she had only gone to further prove that when she practically tricked them into meeting with her. But really- what other choice had she had? She could have let Gracia tell them who the message was from, but there was the chance that they would have avoided her if they knew. She hated deceiving people, especially the two brothers, but sometimes it was just necessary.

They were the same as she remembered them, and yet they were so entirely different that she didn't recognize them. Edward had grown taller and had squared out quite a bit. Even if she hadn't considered him attractive a few years ago, she would have definitely thought so now. She was reminded that in what seemed like a lifetime ago, she had been a fangirl. _This is Edward,_ she reminded herself, _the person, not the character_. Her eyes then switched over to study the other man in front of her.

Alphonse stood a little behind his brother, eyes wide as he took in the sight of her as well. He too was taller than he had been, but his brother was actually taller than he was for once. He was leaner than he had been before- he had lost what little fat he had had left. In its place was a layer of muscle that hadn't been there before. He still wasn't as strong as his brother was, but he was definitely stronger than he had been. His eyes had lost a little bit of the naïve light that they had once carried, leaving a harder gaze behind. The war in Drachma had changed him as it had the rest of the soldiers she had seen.

Karmyn nearly laughed to herself. Here she was, standing before two of the most attractive guys she had ever seen. She had even called them her friends once upon a time. Any other girl that she had known back in America would have killed to be in her place right at that moment. Unfortunately, there was also the very slight possibility that they hated her at that moment.

Unbeknownst to her, the Elrics were also studying her in a similar fashion.

Edward watched the young woman leaning against the side of the bookshelf. He watched as her blue-green eyes scanned over him a couple times before flicking over to Alphonse. He noticed when her lips twitched into a tiny smile at something that she had found funny. He observed that her arms were crossed in front of her body- unconscious body language that indicated that she was feeling defensive. Her eyes were different. Not in the fact that they looked different- they were still the unique blue and green that they had always been- but in the fact that they carried a completely different light. They didn't have the wide, more trusting, slightly awed look that they had carried in the past. Rather, they were slightly narrowed, guarded, and calculating. If he looked closely he could see hints of who she used to be, but on the outside, she was completely changed.

Al also looked her over. She was more slender than he had remembered, yet he could see the new sinewy outlines of well-defined muscles tracing down her bare arms. Her face had matured, developing new angles that hadn't been there before. Her hair was still blonde, but it had darkened in some places while the sun had bleached it in others. It was also longer than it had been the last time he saw her. She kept it up in a style that sort of mixed the appearances of both Riza Hawkeye and Olivier Mira Armstrong. The interesting part of it was that the hair that she allowed to hang down over her face did nothing to conceal the scars that remained upon her skin. It was as if she wore the marks proudly, and didn't want to cover them up. They had since healed, but one could still see where the skin wasn't completely smooth and noticeably darker lines traced up her face.

She wore a maroon spaghetti-strap tank top that hugged her form like a second skin and a brown skirt that fell slightly above the knee. Her lithe combat boots were dark, coming halfway up her calf. They were tied off tightly, and looked as if they had seen some action. A recognizable silver rod lay at her hip, strapped to a thick belt that lay over her skirt and top. Her hands were covered by black leather gloves, though they could only see a sliver of each beneath her crossed arms.

She was beautiful, albeit in a dangerous way. In that way, it was sort of reminiscent of a leopard or a cougar. The ice beneath her glare screamed 'kick-assery,' and the Elrics found themselves wondering what exactly had happened over the years. She shifted, and the light brought to their attention something that they had looked over before- the little silver chain that connected to her belt and trailed down to a pocket in her skirt.

A chain that looked suspiciously like that of a State Alchemist's pocket watch.

The three of them stood at an impasse for what seemed like hours, though in reality it was but a couple minutes. Karmyn bit her lip, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two men. The elder one was obviously trying to contain his building ire, while the other still stared at her as if he were shell-shocked. At last, she broke the silence with a sigh.

"So . . ." she began, but she was cut off before she could say anything else.

"What the HELL were you thinking?" Edward exclaimed loudly.

For the past few minutes, Edward had been struggling to keep his temper under control. He had thought that he would be able to deal with it, to accept the fact that she was trying to come back into their lives. When he laid eyes upon her face, however, those thoughts had flown out the window. He was pissed, and there was no way around it.

Karmyn's eyes widened in sort of a deer-in-the-headlights look. Shock, pain, fear and – was that regret? – could be read behind them, if only he would stop and look. Unfortunately, his rage clouded his vision so that he couldn't see anything but his own indignation.

"I-" she tried for a second time, but she was once again interrupted.

"Do you know just how fucking trouble you've caused us since you disappeared? You didn't even leave a fucking note! We spent weeks after that just trying to figure out where you had gone!"

She may have been shocked before, but as he kept talking she could feel her own exasperation starting to build as well. As Edward kept yammering on, she glanced around them at their surroundings, noticing that many people had stopped what they were doing in order to watch the scene that was taking place before them.

Finally, she couldn't contain herself for any longer, either.

"Don't you dare say that I wasn't justified in my actions," she snapped back, effectively cutting Ed off. "I had every reason to leave that hospital before you arrived!"

"You just wanted to get away from us so you could escape the danger that we came with, didn't you," Edward accused, blinded by fury, "fine, I get it."

"You don't get anything!" Karmyn yelled back, "These past few years have been anything but easy for me! You should know that!"

"You could have stayed with us," Ed told her, "we would have tried to help you!"

"You would have tried to stop me! God, Edward. I was missing fingers on my right hand. I had a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder. I was even going through freakin' _withdrawal_ symptoms at the time! There was no way that I could have kept up with you! I did you a _favor_, and here you are getting all pissy at me!"

"We would have stayed with you, especially if you were hurt," he said, dangerously quiet.

"You had to go off to Drachma. There was no way that I would be able to follow you there," Karmyn countered.

"We would have found some way!"

"You're acting as if I can't do anything on my own! Well, _news flash_, Edward Elric, I'm not helpless! I can survive on my own! I don't _need_ you to do everything for me!"

"Brother, Karmyn . . ." Al said softly, noticing the library officials coming over their way. Unfortunately, neither of them heard him over their argument. He looked back and forth between the man and woman before him, wishing that they would just stop arguing. He wanted to forgive Karmyn, to at least hear what she had to say, but there was nothing he could do while his brother was this angry.

"Then why did you come back?" Edward snapped, "you can't just waltz in and out of our lives and expect us to be okay with it!"

Karmyn fell silent for a little bit. Her eyes were fixed on the gold ones a few feet in front of her and a corner of her mouth twisted up in a wry smile. Edward watched her warily, unsure of what the silence meant. Alphonse also looked on curiously, wondering just what was going on now.

"It's ironic," she said finally, "I came back because I wanted to see my _friends_ again. For the past few years, everything I've done – everything I've strived for – is because I wanted to see you both again. In the past few minutes, well, the only thing I've wanted is to disappear once more, so that I wouldn't have to deal with this."

She sighed. This whole exchange had gone the way she had expected it to, but not the way she hoped it would. In her heart, she knew that the Elrics wouldn't have accepted her back. In her mind, however, she couldn't help but hope that things would turn out okay. Tears threatened to prick at the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them appear. She needed to stay strong- she couldn't show any weakness in front of these two young men.

"Karmyn," Alphonse said upon seeing the expression on her face. He felt so guilty for causing it, even if it was his brother that had actually done it. He had wanted to give her a second chance. Sure, she had hurt them before, but they had been friends once upon a time. She didn't deserve to be cut off from them forever.

Karmyn looked up, immediately placing a bright (albeit fake) smile upon her face. "So . . . I guess this is it then," she said. "Uhm, if you could give this to Roy, when you see him, I'd much appreciate it." She handed Edward a small slip of paper that, at least to the Elrics, had absolute nonsense written upon it. "You may need to help him translate a bit. He's not quite fluent yet," she said simply.

She turned to the table she had been working at before the Elrics arrived and quickly shoved the papers that covered it into the leather messenger bag that hung off the back of the nearby chair. She yanked on the black coat that she still owned and slung the bag over her shoulder. Upon second thought, she removed a couple Cens from her pocket and dropped them on the table where she had been working. The poor assistants deserved something for putting up with her when they obviously didn't want to.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," she said sadly. "It's nice to know that you're still both in one piece. Stay that way, alright? Don't go getting yourself killed any time soon." She fell silent, looking down at her feet. She sighed heavily before looking up at the two of them again. "Just know that you'll always be my friends, even if I'm no longer yours," were her last words to them before she left the library.

They turned to watch her leave. Even from behind, they could tell that she was walking upright, her back straight and her head held high. She was also wearing the coat. The same coat that they had made for her years ago. The rest of the people in the library had since stopped watching them, going back to their own business at hand.

"Aaw, great," Edward said, running a hand through his hair, "I just screwed up, didn't I." It wasn't a question. Now that he had calmed down, he could see clearly everything that he had done wrong. He shouldn't have blown up like that, but he had just been so angry at her for disappearing like that, and then reappearing just as suddenly. Not to mention that it looked like she had gone for a State Alchemist title . . .

Wait- since when could she use alchemy?

And then there was "give this to Roy." Roy? When had she begun calling him by his first name?

There were so many questions that had yet to be answered, and he had possibly just screwed up his only chance to get some of those answers.

"Yeah," his brother agreed with him, "you did."

Edward sighed. "Alright. Come on, we need to report to the General." His hand unconsciously clenched the piece of paper that he held in his palm as he spoke. Perhaps he would sort out the issue with Karmyn later. For now, they would just move on.

-O-o-O-

"_I can do this on my own," she grumbled._

"_No, you can't. Not while your fingers are still recovering," the blonde seated across from her said._

"_But this is just so humiliating!" she exclaimed, "I did the surgery so that I _wouldn't_ be so useless! Now I'm sitting here feeling even more useless than before!"_

"_It will only be for a little while," her friend said. "Now, do you want to starve to death before you recover, or will you just suck it up and deal with it? You're seriously reminding me of Ed right now!"_

_A sharp twinge of regret found its way into her chest. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply in order to help contain the feelings that were now welling up inside of her. She was doing this for them, she told herself. They'd been through worse, she could deal with this._

"_Fine," she relented._

_She hated having to have someone else feed her as if she were two._

-O-o-O-

They burst into Roy Mustang's office as they were prone to do, without knocking or anything. The General had remained behind during the Drachman dispute on request of the Fuhrer. Grumman was beginning to get old, so he kept Mustang by his side most of the time to help deal with the things he had difficulty , of course, was just fine with the General. It meant that he was one step closer to being Fuhrer himself.

But that's beside the point at the moment.

"Fullmetal, I'm beginning to wonder if you've ever even heard of the term 'knocking,'" the higher-rank officer pronounced upon their arrival. He spun around in his swivel chair until he was facing away from the window and was facing them instead.

"Sorry, sir," the young man said cheekily, lending the image that he really wasn't sorry at all.

"No matter. You're here now anyway. What took you so long?" Mustang asked.

"We . . . ran into an old friend," Edward replied slowly. "She said to give you this," he continued as he handed the General the letter. "I can't make any sense of it, but I assume that you can," he said.

The note read:

_June 5, 1919_

_Tfkfpjd:_

_Hlgsknsdsq Qdlrh hjq uffk qmqrrfe ak Xakt. Njk wf tfr j gfqqjtf qfkr rl Dakt? A wadd uf tlakt lsr rhfpf rl iax rhf mpludfg qllk._

_Efmfkeakt lk hlw rhaq tlfq A gjy lp gjy klr jqc rhf Fdpanq rl blak gf. Yls njk iatspf lsr whfrhfp A eae lp klr._

_-Wadenjpe_

They waited for a few minutes as the General looked the paper over. The man bit his lip as he examined it, looking at it intently. He reached for an extra piece of paper, writing the alphabet down and then another series of letters below it. The Elrics watched on curiously as they watched the General begin to decode a message that they couldn't make heads or tails of.

They knew he was done when he set down his pen with a sigh and rubbed his temples. Apparently, whatever had been in the note hadn't been good.

"Knowing that girl, you boys have no clue about anything that's going on, do you?" the black-haired man asked them wearily.

The two Elrics looked at each other. What was going on? What else hadn't Karmyn told them? What was in the note that had gotten Mustang so ruffled?

"She reminds me a lot of you, Fullmetal. Tough as nails, stubborn as a mule, and has no regard for military policy. She refuses to report anything to her own superior, and gives me everything. I hate paperwork," he grumbled.

Okay, now they were really confused. They had one answer now- Karmyn had indeed joined the military. Unfortunately, they were left with about a billion more questions in its place. She hadn't been assigned under Mustang, but was still giving him information? Just how long had she been in association with the General? Why was she such a mystery?

"Sir? What's going on?" Alphonse asked hesitantly. He could tell that something wasn't right.

"Fullmetal, Soul, I'm afraid that you're not going to like what I have to tell you."

"We usually don't," Edward quipped.

There was a small pause before-

"The Homunculi are still very much existent," Mustang stated matter-of-factly.

"WHAAT?" Edward yelled, "how the HELL is that possible? We _killed_ them! You burnt Lust to ashes yourself! You still have the scar!"

Alphonse couldn't believe it either, but he kept himself from verbalizing his disbelief. His brother did enough of that for both of them. His mind was still somewhat preoccupied by the encounter in the library, but he tried to focus it onto the situation at hand. This wasn't something he could be distracted for.

"My reaction was similar when she told me," the General told them, "but there is no denying it. Not anymore."

"She . . . told you?" Alphonse said, the first words that he had really spoken since the bombshell had been dropped upon them.

"Yes. Karmyn Dallas, an old acquaintance of yours, the newly-named Wildcard Alchemist."

Both Elrics looked on at him with stunned expressions. Karmyn had discovered this? When? How? What?

"Come on, Al. We have someone we need to talk to. Again," Edward said, grabbing Al by the sleeve.

"What? Wait- Brother!"

"Oh, and you may want to start packing your cases," Mustang called, "it looks like you may be headed to Xing pretty soon."

Xing? What? Edward was used to knowing things that everyone else didn't know, and now it seemed that he was the only one left out of the loop this time.

Well, a few good things would come of this, at least.

-O-o-O-

Mustang looked down at the note he had been given and smirked. Perhaps things would end up for the better. Fullmetal and Soul were two of his best men, and Wildcard looked as if she held a large amount of potential. They would wipe this threat out before it even became a threat.

_General:_

_Homunculus Sloth has been spotted in Xing. Can we get a message sent to Ling? I will be going out there to fix the problem soon._

_Depending on how this goes, I may or may not ask the Elrics to join me. You can figure out whether I did or not._

_-Wildcard_

-O-o-O-

_6.30.2012_

_6.30.2012_


	5. Promise Me This: No More Secrets!

_7.2.2012_

I'm sorry this took so slow. I was in this phase where I couldn't write more than 200 words in a sitting for a while, until today when I could finally sit down and write over 2,000. I hope you all like this chapter, I hope that you don't decide that Karmyn's a Mary-Sue- I've tried to pull this off in a way that is the least Sueish as possible. Please let me know your opinion.

Another reason why things will be slower is because I want to try to write some other stuff at the same time. I want to work on two or three things instead of being solely committed to this, you know?

But . . . 65 reviews in just 4 chapters? Holy crap, guys. I love you all! \(^3^)/~~

-O-o-O-

_She sat on the front porch steps in the late spring air. The sun was rising, and it lent a general air of contentment to the surrounding atmosphere. The girl sitting on the steps, however, was anything but content._

_She had just woken up after yet another nightmare. They were becoming more frequent it seemed- there was barely a night that she could get a full night's sleep. Over the weeks, she thought that her PTSD would generally improve, that she would get over it. That hadn't been the case thus far._

_Sighing, she clacked her fingers against the wood of the porch. It made an unnatural clicking noise, reminding her that she was no longer entirely flesh and bone. It was an unnerving thought, and at the moment it only served to remind her of what had happened._

No, _she told herself, _don't think of it like that.

_In the dim morning light, she examined the tiny automail closely. It wasn't the first time she had done so. Ever since the surgery, she hadn't been able to stop herself from just looking at the grey-silver chunks of metal that had replaced her fingertips._

_There was nothing that indicated fingernails- that was the weirdest part. Instead of seeing roundish flat places on the back of her fingers, there was just smooth grey. She looked at it, wondering in the back of her head whether she would be able to transmute a bit of texture into the backs of them. Maybe she could add a lip to substitute for a nail. _

_Then it struck her- maybe she could even take it a little bit further?_

-O-o-O-

**5 June, 1919**

"Brother?" Al asked, "Do you really think the homunculi are still alive?"

Edward sighed. "I really wish I didn't. I wish that this wasn't happening, but I don't see any reason why the General would lie to us," he said as they walked down the halls of HQ.

The one thing that they were certain of was that they needed to find Karmyn. For some reason, somehow, she was the key to explaining all this. It made them wonder just what she had gotten herself into in the years they hadn't seen her. Ed was holding back a feeling of guilt at accusing her of wanting to be safe. Apparently, that was far from the truth.

Why hadn't he let her speak? Why hadn't he let her explain her situation? Why hadn't he thought it through? He had _known_ Karmyn. He should have known that whatever she did, she had a reason for it. It wasn't feelings of mistrust that had caused her to run away- it was something entirely different. He didn't know exactly what that 'something entirely different' was, but he was going to find out.

Their one problem now was finding her. They had lost her after she had taken off from the library, and they hadn't thought to ask Mustang where she was staying. For the moment, they were just wandering through the halls of Central Headquarters. Their excuse was that it gave them a chance to think things over, but in reality it was just because they didn't know where to start.

One might have noticed that Alphonse had remained surprisingly quiet throughout this entire ordeal. A simple explanation for this would be that he hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise as his brother talked. Another – not as obvious – reason was that he really didn't know what to say. He didn't even know what he _felt_ about this entire thing. While he may not have said anything aloud, he was going back and forth with himself inside.

He and Karmyn had been close before the fateful events of 1917; there was no arguing with that. He had spent months with her, and probably knew her better than anyone else in Amestris. He had even begun questioning his feelings for her in the last few weeks before she had been kidnapped, although he hadn't realized that until much later. Her disappearance had affected him greatly, greater than he had let on to anyone- even his brother. When they found her, he had been so relieved. Then there was her time in the hospital, her injuries, her hand . . . and her disappearance.

He had been so pissed when he and his brother had arrived at the hospital only to find out that the blonde-haired girl had left a week beforehand. There had been a single note left behind at the front desk for them-

_Edward and Alphonse,_

_Please don't be mad. We'll see each other again. _

_Love, Karmyn_

He had felt pain then, even betrayal. They had done so much for her, and she had repaid them by running away. She hadn't even told them why, or what she was doing. He knew it wasn't true, but it felt as if she had _used_ them. Used them to her advantage somehow, even if he had no idea how that could have been possible.

Over time, those feelings had faded to a dull pain that resided in the back of his heart. He managed to avoid them for the most part- fighting in Drachma had definitely helped that. It still hurt whenever someone mentioned her name, and he knew that his brother was affected by it as well. They never talked about it, about _her_, as neither one of them wanted to bring up painful memories. Edward never knew this, but Al had kept the little slip of paper that Karmyn had left them. At first it had just resided in his pocket, but when he had gotten his state certification a year later, it found its way into his new pocketwatch.

He had gone back and forth between missing her and hating her for the past two years, never being able to settle on one or the other. Then suddenly, without warning, she just appeared back in front of them – of _him_ – almost as if she was unaware of the pain she had caused them since she had been gone. He was ready to forgive her- she was his friend, after all. At last, he could settle his opinions. He was extremely happy that she had returned, but at the same time, there was still uneasiness left in his heart.

It was amazing the things that he went through that his brother didn't even know about. He just preferred to keep them to himself.

He hadn't noticed, but they had stopped in the middle of the hallway, unsure of where to go next. Various people in military uniforms continued to walk by them, somewhat irritated that they were standing in their way. When Al looked over to his brother, he could tell that the older man was thinking.

"So," Al prodded, "now what?"

Edward sighed. "I don't know. I don't know where she could be, and I really don't want to have to go back to the stupid General in order to find out. We've been thrown a curveball, and I have no clue where it landed."

The two of them fell silent for a short moment, the only sounds being the general sounds of Headquarters around them. A few officers gave them an odd look as they passed by, but both brothers were oblivious to the disturbance they were causing. They were both thinking about what their next move would be.

"Does her father still live here?" Alphonse asked, curious. Perhaps she would be there, or at least they could ask her father where she was.

"He probably does," Ed replied, "but I don't really want to ask someone. We're not fifteen anymore. We should be able to do this on our own."

Damn Edward and that stupid mindset of his.

"If she's with the military," Ed continued, "which it seems she is, she probably has a room in the dorms. We could try looking back there to start with."

Well, it was a start.

"Considering you're too stubborn to talk to her dad . . . fine, we can start at the dorms."

The two of them rejoined the flow of traffic in the halls of Headquarters, although neither of them said anything. Both of them were thinking about just what they would say when they came face-to-face with the woman again. Edward would be apologizing, that much was set in stone. After that, who knew what would happen? Would she even accept them back after they had botched the meeting earlier?

They were still distracted as they entered the dorm hall. They had been so wrapped up in their thoughts that they had been almost oblivious to anything that was going on around them. It was possible that a couple people had said hello, but it wasn't like they would know. They must have come off as rude, and while Alphonse regretted that in the back of his mind, it wasn't the biggest problem they were facing at the moment.

Actually, literally . . . facing.

"I knew you'd come back here," a voice startled both of them back into the real world. They looked to where it had come from, blinked, and looked again.

Karmyn was sitting right in front of the door to Edward's room, looking as if she were completely at home there. She wore exactly what she had been wearing earlier, though it seemed that she had taken the clip out of her hair, letting the blonde locks fall around her shoulders. In her gloved hands she held a large book – hardcover – opened to a page somewhere in the middle. She rested against the door, her legs protruding into the hallway. (Every time someone had passed, she had pulled them inward for them before stretching out again.) She now looked up at them with those blue-green eyes of hers, and they were once again at a loss of what to say.

"How do you just _know_ where we're going to show up?" Edward finally asked incredulously, breaking the silence. "First the Hughes' house, and now this . . ." he trailed off as he caught the condescending look on the woman's face. He watched as she glanced down at her book (presumably to take note of the page she was on) before snapping it shut and looking back up at them.

"Edward," she told him, "you can be pretty predictable. Where did we go first when we showed up in Amestris almost three years ago? Gracia's. Where did you go when you returned from the war? Gracia's. As for showing up here, I knew that you'd be here at some point. This is your room, right?"

Ed opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again after a couple seconds. There wasn't any way that he could argue with what she had said. It had been true, and there wasn't any way of going against that.

Alphonse finally made up his mind about what he was going to do. While his brother was still looking for words, he stepped out in front. Standing in front of the young woman, he smiled down at her as he offered a hand to help her up. "It's good to see you again, Karmyn," he told her truthfully.

Karmyn scanned his face with her eyes, searching for any signs of ill will. She looked into his eyes with her own, trying to get a read on whatever emotions he may have been hiding. When she could find nothing malicious, she broke into a smile as well. She grabbed his hand and he helped pull her up off the ground, letting go when she was on her own two feet.

"It's good to see you too, Al," she replied. "It's been a while."

Edward was left to watch their little exchange, his eyes going back and forth between the two. Years ago, he could have sworn that there was something between his brother and his friend. When she had disappeared off the face of the planet, it had looked as if he had been wrong. Still, examining the two of them now . . . could they possibly learn to forgive and forget?

Honestly, Ed had been worried about his brother for a while now. When they had first found her missing, Al had practically exploded. It was the first time that he had seen his younger brother that angry. After that, he had fallen into somewhat of a slump. He pretended as if he were alright, as if it hadn't really affected him, but his older brother could tell that he wasn't telling the complete truth.

In a way, Ed understood why Karmyn had left. Was it not all that different from what he had done before? True, he had been initially shocked that she would do such a thing, but was it really all that shocking? Even when they had been together, the girl had always hidden her pain from them to some extent. She had always stubbornly insisted on keeping her issues to herself as not to trouble other people, much like Edward once had. She refused to ask for help, and she refused to admit to anyone other than herself that she was weak. So was it really all that surprising that she had taken off on her own when she had problems that she needed to face?

It was something that Edward could relate to, something that he could understand. In this way, he found that he had forgiven her a few months after she had disappeared. After seeing her for a brief moment after that, he found it even easier to forgive her- what she had been going through was not easy, by any stretch of the matter. Why had he blown up at her in the library, then?

Because even though he understood why, it had still hurt when she left.

-O-o-O-

_That night, she snuck into Edward's old room after everyone else had gone to sleep. Carefully, so as not to wake anyone else up, she searched through all of his old belongings. She was looking for one thing (or a multitude of things) in particular. She silently asked the alchemist for permission, although she knew that there was no way that he would hear her._

_At last, in the dim light, she found what she was looking for in a pile near the bed. It was the entirety of his old beginner's alchemy books. There were six or seven that she could see right away, but she was certain that there were a few more hidden away somewhere. She slowly made her way over to their location, vigilantly avoiding floorboards that she knew to be creaky. It was fun acting like a thief, even if she wasn't truly _stealing_ anything. It was one of the reasons she was doing it this way. She needed more fun in her life._

_Another reason was that she didn't really want the Rockbells to know what she was up to. Not yet. Not until she knew whether or not it would work._

_There were only so many books she could carry at a time, so she picked out two of the more basic-looking ones and began to retreat from the room. She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she knew that she had gotten out safe._

_She almost wanted to giggle- she was making way too much out of just borrowing a couple books._

_As she walked back to her room, she really hoped this plan would work. If it did, then not only would she have her fingertips back, but they would also become her main system of defense. If it worked really well, then maybe it could also be what would lead her to defeat the homunculi once and for all._

_IF._

-O-o-O-

A few minutes later found them all sitting in Edward's room. Well, Edward sat on the couch, Al was situated on the floor with his back against the couch, and Karmyn was standing across the room from them. She was leaning against the wall, looking around the place curiously. She had never really seen the inside of the military dorms. Sure, she had seen it in the anime, but that was such a long time ago now. Besides, it was so much different in real life.

For one thing, there was more _stuff_. Okay, not a lot more stuff, but still more stuff all the same. Edward was far from a pack rat, but he had more belongings in the room than he did in the anime. More books, especially. To sum it up in three words, it looked _more lived in_.

But that was really beside the point.

Karmyn sighed, running her hand back through her hair. "You probably want some answers, don't you."

It wasn't a question. It was a flat-out obvious statement.

Edward was the one that replied. "Yeah, some answers would be nice," he said, "but- uhm . . . about earlier . . ." This was harder than it should have been. How fricking difficult could it be to say 'I'm sorry?' It wasn't the first time he had to do so, not by far. He had apologized for so many things in his life- why was this one so hard?

"It's okay," Karmyn cut him off from his hem-hawing, "I know you didn't really mean it. Your temper just got the best of you again," she told him. "There's nothing for you to apologize for."

"Still . . ."

"Shut it. No apologies. Okay?"

It felt odd just to leave it like that, but it seemed like the woman wasn't taking anything like it. Eventually, Edward just shrugged it off. "Fine," he said, "how about those answers?"

"Brother!" Al exclaimed from where he was sitting. True, he hadn't spoken much in their exchange, but it didn't mean that his brother had do go and be so rude. It was obvious that their old friend was getting to it in her own time.

"It's okay, Al. I really do owe you some answers," she said. "Where should I start? There's just been so much going on . . ."

"Tell us what pertains to now," Alphonse suggested. "We'll have time for the history lesson later, but it sounds as if we're kind of pressed for time right now."

Was that sarcasm? From Alphonse, of all people? Maybe Karmyn had just heard it wrong. After all, there were many different ways that sentences could be taken. Whatever it was, it was true all the same. She looked at them both for a minute before taking a deep breath.

"I didn't want to leave- I just want to put that out there now. However, there was no possible way that I could have stayed with you. I knew that war with Drachma was imminent and that even if I did stay with you, there would come a point where you would be sent off to fight. Even I couldn't follow you there, even if you had let me.

"I had an extremely bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder, even if I didn't admit it to myself. Not to mention that I was also going through withdrawal from the drug that they had given me while I was captured. I had triggers, nightmares, anxiety attacks in addition to my regular attacks, headaches, nervousness, paranoia . . . you name it, I had it. There was no way that I could stay with you without slowing you down. Especially when white rooms were one of my triggers. Actually, no. That wasn't the worst one. Edward, even you were a tiny bit of a trigger for me."

"Me?" Edward interrupted incredulously, "why _me_?"

"Let me start by telling you this. There is no such a person as Captain Gabriel Neidel," she started again, giving a little clue.

"But . . . we saw him! On that train! And he kidnapped you!" This time, it was Al's turn to interrupt. "He was a _military officer_!"

Karmyn snorted. "It was a very good façade, but he wasn't a military officer. He's not even human."

By this point in time, she could see the realization starting to dawn in Edward's eyes. Even Alphonse was starting to get there. Karmyn bit her lip. This was the biggest thing that she had kept secret from them, and she had no clue as to how they were going to react. She would be lucky if she could get away with a screaming match like earlier.

"He is a homunculus. A homunculus that we are all way too familiar with. The androgynous gender-confused palm tree. Envy. Envy was the one who kidnapped me," she told them, probably two years too late. When she saw that the Elrics were about to protest, she quickly cut them off. "I know! I know. You're probably pissed at me for keeping that from you. You're probably wondering why. Why he abducted me, why he did what he did to me, why I never told you about it. I . . . I don't know. I don't know why I never told you. Maybe I thought he would come after me. Maybe I just didn't want to trouble you. Maybe it was because I wanted to prove to you, the world, and myself that I'm not just the weak girl that followed after you guys. That I belonged here. That I could make a difference. It was stupid, I know. I know, you know, and you're probably just going to scream at me again. I'm sorry," she concluded, "I'm sorry, and that's all I can really say to you. We can't change the past."

She scanned them both with a desperate look in her eyes. She regretted not telling them, and she regretted the repercussions that would follow. When the two of them remained silent, she continued on. She explained about everything else that had happened with that incident, from Envy wanting information on the Philosopher's Stone to the _real_ cause of the disappearance of Andrei Utkin, to the drug, and Envy impersonating Edward, to the cause of the war, to where she had left the hospital.

"You saw my hand, back in the hospital," she said. "Envy cut off my fingers when I refused to give him answers. When I left the hospital, I went straight to the Rockbells' place. I knew that I couldn't do everything that I needed to do with stumps for fingers." As she talked, she was beginning to remove her dark gloves. She slid them off her hands, exposing them for the first time in ages for the people that she still trusted the most.

She held them up for the Elrics' inspection, walking closer so that they could see them in more detail. At the stunned expressions on the brothers' faces, she grinned inwardly. She wiggled her fingers and clenched her hand in demonstration, somewhat relieved to finally be free of the gloves.

"Is that automail?" Edward asked, although he knew it was a stupid question. He knew it was. Still, it was unlike any automail that he had ever seen. It was just rounded grey bits of metal attached to her fingertips, but it almost looked natural- as if she had just taken a bucket of silver paint and dipped her fingers in it. Well, not completely normal. There was an odd bit of metal that ran back her finger to the second knuckle. Yet it was somewhat pliable, as she demonstrated. He imagined it was so that when she wore her gloves, she could still bend her fingers normally.

"Yes," she replied. "I challenged the Rockbells a bit with this one. They'd never made anything so small before. The extra metal is my doing, as are . . ." she broke off as she flipped her hand over, "these."

'These' was a set of tiny transmutation circles engraved into each fingertip, a different one for each finger. Edward recognized the one for water on her ring finger and the one for fire on her index finger. He also noted that on her index finger, underneath the transmutation circle, was a small patch of flint embedded into the metal. The tip of her thumb was lined with steel.

"My left hand is identical," she told them as they both looked at her hand with intense stares.

"Transmutation circles?" Alphonse asked, "So you actually can use alchemy?"

"Yeah," Karmyn told him, "this is what I've been doing for the _rest_ of those two years- training with each type of elemental alchemy. I have fire and water mastered, I have a pretty firm grasp on air and earth, and I'm still a little shaky with electricity. I can still only use one type of alchemy at a time, unfortunately. There's only so much one person can do in two years' worth of time."

"One person, five different types of alchemy," Edward muttered to himself, "the Wildcard Alchemist. It's starting to make sense now."

"Oh, and Edward, I have to thank you for this one," she told him, and he snapped out of his internal thought process.

"What?" he asked as she clapped her hands together. Blue sparks flew as she first ran her left hand up her right, and then vice versa. When it finally died down, she stood there with both hands held up. However, it wasn't just hands. She had taken the extra metal on the back of each finger and transmuted it into sharp, lethal-looking claws that extended maybe two inches from each appendage.

"It's not the strongest weapon out there, but I also have my staff to fight with. Make do with what yah got, right?" she asked as she transmuted the metal back to the strips on her fingers.

Silence greeted her, and the smile on her face fell as she looked back and forth between the two brothers. "Is . . . everything okay? Alright, look. I know I've made some stupid choices, but I can't change any of that now. We can only move on . . ." She trailed off as Edward shot her a look.

"You idiot," he said softly. "Did you even think before you threw yourself headlong into any of this?"

Karmyn sighed. "Yes, yes I did. In fact, that's all I did before I was finally able to do stuff again. And that was for about three months. This is what I decided on." She paused for a moment before continuing. "But . . . I need your help. I can't take on the homunculi on my own. I don't _want_ to take them on by myself. You don't have to help me. I'll understand if you don't want to, considering all I've done. It'll be dangerous, and I know you just got back from the war . . ."

She was cut off by Alphonse grabbing the top of her hand. "Of course we'll help you," he said. "At least, I will. I know Brother will too. We're friends, right?"

This brought a weak smile to the nineteen-year-old's face. "Yeah," she said, "we're friends."

"On one condition," Edward spoke from where he was seated, "no more secrets, okay?"

Karmyn laughed. "Of course! No more secrets," she agreed.

Alphonse pushed himself up onto the couch so that he was seated beside his brother, and motioned for the girl to join them. She did, seating herself on the end so that she could face both the Elrics as she talked. There was still a lot that they needed to go over together.

-O-o-O-

_I know that at the moment it kind of seems like it's Ed x OC, but I can promise you, it's not. Al isn't talking because he just doesn't know what to say. Edward will come to see Karmyn much like a sister, but really nothing more than that. He will be 100% for getting Karmyn and his brother together ;)_

_I hope that they reacted okay and all that . . . again, I would like some feedback!_

_7.10.2012_

_7.10.2012_


	6. Early Morning Escapades and a Challenger

_7.21.2012_

Eeh, sorry. I really meant to do this chapter sooner, but I just couldn't think of anything. I hate writers' block.

I'm currently working on two FictionPress stories as well- you can find me there under the same username and avatar I use here.

Oh, my God. This chapter is truly dedicated to **featherfire535** for making this EPIC fanart of Karmyn- this is honestly almost exactly how I imagined her! You can find it at

_** walking-on-air . deviantart art/ The-Wildcard -316021155****  
**_

Look at it! I still haven't been able to put my pictures up, so look at that instead!

-O-o-O-

_It was cold. It was cold out, and that was really all she knew. Her brain had long since stopped processing as adeptly as it had before. Due to repeated pain and suffering, drugs and abuse, her brain had just disconnected itself from the outside world in order to numb her._

_From somewhere far away, she heard a door open. Inwardly, she cringed. There was only one thing associated with the opening of that door, and it wasn't good. She clenched her eyes closed, drawing herself even tighter into the human ball she had formed. She heard footsteps coming ever closer, ever closer._

_Ever closer._

_She hated the sound of footsteps, the even rhythmic pounding that sounded much like the steady bass drum of an executioners' march. She bit her tongue until it started to hurt, bracing herself for what she knew was coming, almost as steady as clockwork. _

_That was it. The footsteps reminded her of the ominous ticking of an analog clock in a silent room, counting down the seconds of life, ever marching onward._

_She expected the sneery sadistic voice of the homunculus, but that wasn't what she got._

"_Karmyn. Karmyn! Come on! We're here! You'll be safe now," a fairly familiar voice broke into her consciousness. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew who it was, but her brain wasn't making any connections at the present time._

_Slowly, she looked up at the source of the sound. She was met with golden eyes and a concerned gaze. No. This couldn't be happening. There was no possible way that these people could have found her. She was in the middle of a snowy plain in enemy territory. That only left one other explanation._

"No!" _she screamed at him, the only time when she ever held a remnant of her former vitality. This was what she saved her depleted strength for. _"No! I will not fall for this again! You got me last time, I figured you out!"

_She wasn't going to let the homunculus trick her again. He had already done it once, and it hadn't ended prettily. It had been that event that had well and truly broken her spirit, when she realized that there was no way that anyone would be coming for her._

"_Karmyn, it's me! Edward! You know, the Fullmetal Alchemist? Your friend? I'm here with Al and General Ba-Mustang, and Colonel Hawkeye and your father, and Jean Havoc! We're going to get you out of here."_

_No, he wasn't. It was just a trick, to break her spirits even more, to get her to tell him what he wanted to know. She wouldn't – couldn't – let herself believe that this was truly her lost friend. It would only lead her to ruin in the end._

"Stop!" _she screeched,_ "stay away from me! You have no right! NO RIGHT! Aren't you happy with what you've done? Why must you do this again! Just go away! I'm not telling you anything!"

_Envy stood up, turning to another figure that had just entered the room. _"Wait, how . . . you can't be two places at once . . . that's impossible," _she muttered to herself. Could she even dare to hope . . .?_

"Karmyn, believe me. It's just us. Me, Alphonse Percival Elric and my brother, Edward Ethan Elric. We're not going to hurt you. We really do need to get you out of here. It's been over a month since you disappeared," _the other figure said to her after he knelt down in front of her. Alphonse, she remembered. Dear friend Alphonse. And . . ._

"You . . . you're speaking . . . but you never understood . . . that's why . . ." _she trailed off. That's why I'm speaking like this, she thought. _"Percival? Ethan?" _Envy had never know the Elrics' middle names. _"Alphonse? Edward? Is it really . . . alchemy. Alchemy . . . proof . . ." _She didn't care that she was speaking almost nonsensically. It was taking a lot out of her just to be speaking the way she was._

_She watched as the two of them confirmed their identities by transmuting various things from the floor, and she was overwhelmed with relief._

"It is!" _She cried before she threw herself forward and pulled Alphonse into a hug. "_It is! I thought . . . you weren't . . ." _she murmured into his shoulder in between her happy sobs._

"Of course we were coming," _Al told her, _"What kind of friends did you think we are?"

"Unfortunately,"_ he continued, and she froze in shock as his voice turned nasty and he began to morph forms. It wasn't long before it wasn't Alphonse she was hugging, but Envy. Edward had since disappeared. _"I'm not exactly your friend," _he spat before she lost consciousness once more, her spirits even more broken than they had been before._

-O-o-O-

**6 June, 1919**

Karmyn woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright on her bed. It was still dark out, and she found herself entrenched in a cold sweat. She was hyperventilating, and began controlling her breathing to calm herself down. Deep breath in, let it all out, repeat. When she had finally gotten herself under control, she looked over at the clock she kept on the table beside her bed. She fumbled for the backlight button on the thing, but at last she was able to read the small yellow-illuminated analog display.

It was three-thirty in the morning, and she knew that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night. She sat up and swung her legs off the side of the bed so that she was sitting on the side. She had no covers to worry about- she had stripped them off her bed as soon as her room had been assigned to her. She couldn't sleep with them. Since the incident over two years ago, she hadn't been able to. They trapped and encased her, making her feel as if she was tied down and suffocated. Wherever she went, she either stripped the bed or simply slept on top of the covers. If it was cold, she would just wear warmer clothes to bed.

Sitting on the side of the bed, she rested her elbows on her knees and cradled her head in her hands as she continued to breathe deeply. The nightmares were the one thing that had refused to go away over the years. She had eventually managed to control her triggers and mostly got over withdrawal, but she still had the nightmares three or four times a week. Every time, she wouldn't know it was a nightmare. Every time, it didn't feel like she was dreaming. Every time . . . she felt like she was there in the compound again.

She glanced around at the room that she hadn't yet been able to make hers. She had only moved in a week or so ago, and hadn't yet had time to unpack the few things that she had. She had clothes in the drawers and a couple books that she had bought resting on the bookshelves, but that was about it. Her flamel jacket hung on the doorknob to her room. Her iPod was charging on an improvised alchemically-created charger cable.

The wallet that had landed her here in the first place was sitting on her chest of drawers, the brown nearly blending in with the surrounding wood.

Sometimes, Karmyn wondered if she had subconsciously 'accidentally-on-purpose' dropped the wallet. Sometimes she wondered if she had gone back for it precisely at that moment so that she would be caught up in that transmutation. Sometimes she wondered that while she hadn't thought that she wanted to go to Amestris, her subconscious had thought otherwise.

Every time she wondered this, she was wracked with the feeling of guilt of what she left behind. Had she honestly left Katherine on purpose? Had a voluntary decision of hers landed her mother in Truth's dominion for the rest of eternity? And what about all the trouble she had caused the Elrics since she had been here? Was it really worth it?

But she had no way to prove either way that she had done what she had done on purpose or accidentally. She thought of her father, whom she would have never seen again if she hadn't been that foolish. She thought of the fun that she had running around with the Elrics, and how they had quickly grown to be her two best friends. She thought of how she had become more in Amestris than she could have ever hoped to be in America. She thought of how, even though she was no longer going to school, she was learning more than she would have if she had.

And it raised her spirits and hopes just that little bit more that she needed in order to get through another day.

Knowing that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, Karmyn stood up and got dressed for the day. She donned a similar outfit to the day before, but this time the tank top was a deep blue and the skirt was black. She strapped her belt around her waist and clipped the shiny silver canister to it, making sure it was secure. She also attached her State Alchemist watch to her belt loop using the chain and slid it into the pocket of her skirt. Not, however, before she popped it open to make sure that her papers were still inside it.

Her 'papers' consisted of the little note from the Fuhrer (that she had gotten renewed once a year since she got it), a picture of her family that she had kept in her wallet that was taken when she was about twelve, meaning her mother and father were both there with her, and one of those photobooth photos that she and Katherine had done once in their local mall. When she had found the latter two pictures hidden in the recesses of her wallet, she had quite literally broken down into tears.

Reassured that they were there, she clicked the watch closed once again and locked it. Once she slid it into her pocket, she picked up the gloves that were resting on the top of her dresser. She slid them on and turned around, grabbing a loose piece of paper that was lying around. She had a lot of those- she kept whatever she could find because they were good for sketching on. Picking up a pen (which she had since gotten very good at using), she quickly scribbled a short note. Holding it in her mouth, she brushed her hair swiftly and clipped it up. With that she crossed the room, slid her boots on and laced them, grabbed her jacket off the door handle, and left.

Once in the hallway, she stuck the note where she knew a couple of men could find it. She shrugged on her jacket as she quietly walked down the hall, sliding her arms through the sleeves one by one. Over the years, she had gotten the hang of walking in combat boots while hardly making a sound. She succeeded in waking no one as she slipped out of the building and made her way over to the training grounds.

-O-o-O-

"_Thanks for everything," she told the old woman and the teen gratefully as they stood on the front porch. The three months were up, and she was itching to get a move on. She felt bad for imposing upon them for so long._

"_Any time," the young blonde said. "You're one of my best friends, after the Elrics. And you're female, which makes it better."_

_The two girls grinned at that. They had bonded quickly in the few months they had been together. _

"_I'll come back to you if I have any issues," she told them, "though by this point, I may be able to fix them myself. You taught me quite a lot about automail."_

"_Where are you going now?" the older woman asked, "The two boys are on the Drachman-Amestrian border. You're welcome to stay with us," she finished._

_She grinned wryly. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry. I have a . . . friend . . . in Dublith that I will be staying with. I'll be fine."_

_They both looked at her a little oddly- they had both since learned of her various afflictions. They didn't know the reason behind it, though. She had refused to tell, and while they were curious, they hadn't pressed the matter._

"_I'm getting better," she lied, "honestly. I'll be fine." She knew it was a bunch of BS, though. If anything, she was getting worse._

-O-o-O-

It was around seven that the Elrics were stepping out of Ed's room. They weren't entirely certain what the day was going to entail for them with the entire mess with the homunculi and Karmyn. Not that Karmyn was a mess, it was just that it hadn't been expected. So much had happened the previous day and in a way, they were still trying to wrap their heads around it.

They had accepted her back, and it was time that they began to move forward. Why was it them that always had to save Amestris? Why couldn't it be someone else for once? Not that they were complaining, or anything. It certainly kept their lives interesting.

Edward was in a black t-shirt and pants, while Alphonse had opted for a grey button-up t-shirt over a white tank top and khaki trousers. Both wore their corresponding jackets that had become a staple of their identity of the Elrics. Together, they walked down the hall to where Karmyn had showed them her room was.

When they got there, Ed knocked on the door. When nobody responded he knocked again, this time a little harder. He was going to knock again when Alphonse stopped him.

"Brother, look at this!" he said as he removed her note from where she had left it. To tell the truth, the note made Al a little uneasy. It had been a single note that she had left behind for them when she had disappeared on them two years ago. He didn't _really_ think that she had gone and left them again, but it was understandable that he was a little bit wary.

**Elrics,**it read on the first side. The brothers cast a glance at each other before they flipped it over and began to read.

_You're probably panicked, thinking I've run away again. I haven't. You can probably find me down at the training grounds. I woke up and felt that I couldn't just sit around. You're welcome to join me.  
-Karmyn, the Wildcard Alchemist_

Well, it certainly didn't waste any space with pleasantries. It was kind of amazing the way that she had known what they might think.

"Let's go," Edward said, folding up the piece of paper and placing it in his pocket. "I'm kind of curious as to how she's improved in these past couple years, though I doubt she could beat either one of us."

Al found himself agreeing with his brother's statement, though he already knew that Karmyn could hold her own in a fight beforehand. Back then, however, she had mostly just defended herself until she could find some way to strategically defeat whoever it was. He could count the three fights she had been in- there had been the guy at the lab that stole the Philosopher's Stone, the one in Ceredigion, and the one on the train against the Drachman terrorist.

Well, at least they now had an explanation as for why the Drachman terrorist had been there. He was trying to get revenge on Amestris for 'taking' Andrei Utkin. Of course, neither Al nor Karmyn had known that at the time.

He smiled as he remembered how she had won that fight. First she had written him a note in English so that no one would understand it, and then she had pretended that she was going to use alchemy so that he would be unprepared when she knocked him out with her staff. Even he had been pretty impressed with her.

She was a cunning one, that one.

It wasn't long before the two of them emerged onto the training grounds, where they were met with an impressive sight in itself.

They could see Karmyn from where they stood across the way. She was standing in an unoccupied portion of the concrete. Well, not exactly standing. She was holding her elongated staff in one hand so that it balanced out on both sides. As they watched, she moved it so quickly that it was only a blur in their sight. She switched it from one hand to another constantly, always keeping one hand free. She was always in motion, and it was almost always fluid, as if she were in some sort of deadly dance. Which, they supposed, she kind of was.

The two of them crossed the training grounds side by side, coming up behind where the woman was standing. She hadn't slowed down in the time that it took them to get there, either.

"When did you learn how to do that, Karmyn?" Al was the first one that spoke, and her eyes quickly darted over to where he was standing. Within seconds, one of the ends of her staff was about five inches from his solar plexus. Seconds later, she recognized who it was and laughed, relaxing her grip and bringing the long metal weapon to rest by her side. She laughed at the looks on both their faces.

"Sorry about that," she said, tucking one of her bangs behind her ear. "As for your question, it's a long story, but basically training with Izumi nonstop for three or four months before practicing on my own every day for almost two more years while visiting various alchemists across the country." She was quite a bit out of breath after practicing for so long.

"How long have you been out here?" Edward inquired, and Karmyn shrugged.

"I'm not sure, what time is it now?" she asked him as she collapsed her staff back into its little one-foot cylinder.

"Seven, seven-fifteenish maybe? I'm not sure about the exact time, but somewhere around seven," was the reply.

"Seven . . ." Karmyn said, "so then . . . about . . . three and a half hours or so? I woke up sometime around three-thirty."

"Three-thirty?" Alphonse asked, somewhat incredulous, "Really? Why?"

The blonde woman shot him a dry glare. "PTSD, nightmares . . . the etcetera?"

"Oh, right . . ."

"So you've been training for two years?" Edward asked, breaking the somewhat awkward silence, "let's see how you do. You against me, right now."

Karmyn raised an eyebrow. "Right now? In front of all these people? After I've been exercising for the past three and a half hours? _Please_," she said, and Edward's face fell a little bit.

"You're on," she said. "After all, I haven't had a chance to _really_ fight someone in a long while."

-O-o-O-

_I'm going to end it there. It's a short chapter, but I really wanna get it up, and I want to save the fight for next chapter, when I'm more with it than I was today._

_Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please look at featherfire's drawing, it's beautiful, it's now my desktop background. _

_Alright. I promise to update sooner next time . . . I hope._

-O-o-O-

_7.21.2012_

_7.21.2012_


	7. Proving Her Worth and Troubling Thoughts

_8.6.2012_

Would you kill me if I changed the name of the trilogy once again? Every time I see 'Shades of Grey' I think it's way too cliché. (And I'm reminded of a . . . book that has somewhat of a similar title -.-")

I have a Twitter account now. You can follow me at _ karmahopeauthor_. I post there things I'm working on, or ideas coming up that may find their way into my fics, or which fics I'm focusing on, or little facts that never make their way into the final draft. So if you want insider info, that's where to follow me.

Karmyn also has a Facebook, as I said in my author's note along with the thing above. Just search 'Karmyn Dallas' and you should find her. So if you ever want to talk to her as if she's a real person . . . that's were to go. It should be pretty cool.

**PICTURE OF KARMYN'S HAND AND AUTOMAIL! ** the-turtle-alchemist . deviantart # /d5bfnj7

And . . . right. Let's see if I can finally write this thing.

**I'd like to thank **_**SA Homunculus**_ as well, for helping me decide whether what I wanted to do was Mary-Sue or not. That is my biggest concern at the moment. Thank you!

-O-o-O-

_The blonde haired teenager put her large briefcase down on the ground beside her, observing the green building that sat in front of her. The four letters spelling out the simple word at the top seemed more intimidating than ever before, and she gulped nervously._

_Hesitantly, she raised her gloved fist to knock at the door. She was about an inch away from doing so when the door swung open violently. Instinctively the girl threw herself to the side, her back slamming against the wall next to the door. Taking a much-needed breath of air, she looked at the dark-haired woman whose seemingly random attack she had just dodged._

_The older woman looked around for a minute, searching for the person that she knew was there. When she whirled around and saw the teen pressed up against the door, the harsh look in her eyes and the tenseness in her body seemed to melt away._

"_Oh. It's you," she said once she had relaxed. "Where are the boys?"_

"_They're not here," the blonde said, peeling herself away from the wall. "I'm not even really sure where they are. I haven't seen them in months."_

_The one that faced her was obviously surprised. "I'm surprised. You seemed so close when I saw you last." The dark-haired lady watched as the teen's eyes hardened- a look that she had only seen in one other blond-haired youth before._

"_I need to be stronger," the girl said in a dangerously calm tone. "I'm weak, and I'm holding them back. I was naïve, and that got me into . . . that . . . incident," she said, clenching her fist. "I was ignorant, and it cost me. I need to be stronger," she reiterated. "I need to be able to keep up with them once I tell them the truth."_

"_The truth?" the older woman inquired, raising an eyebrow at the young lady before her. There was no doubt- she definitely took after the golden-eyed young man._

"_The truth," she confirmed. "The Homunculi are back. I'm the only one that knows; you're the only one I've told. I know you absolutely despise the idea, but I need a State Certification. I'm telling you now beforehand so that you know what I'll be getting myself into eventually."_

_The teen spoke in a monotone- her cool, calm voice and composure giving nothing away. This was almost nothing like the bright girl that the woman had met once before. No. This girl had seen the world, been through things that no one should have to go through. Her blue and green eyes were solemn, but somewhere in the depths burned a spark of determination. She knew that gaze, and she was familiar with the repercussions that followed._

"_I'm not making any promises," she told the blonde standing before her, "but come inside and we'll talk. From there, we'll see."_

"_Thank you," the girl said gravely, nodding her head gratefully. With that, she picked up her case and followed the woman into the building._

-O-o-O-

**6 June, 1919**

They didn't actually fight in front of the entirety of Central Headquarters, instead choosing to head around to the back. They had decided to move after Alphonse had pointed out they would be disturbing the rest of the military officers that were out that morning

Karmyn had a feeling she already knew what the outcome of this match was going to be. Sure, she had trained for two years in six types of alchemy and some form of martial arts, but her opponent already had years of experience under his proverbial belt. Over ninety years of it, she suspected, as the Elrics wouldn't have been the types to slack off on their physical training while they couldn't do alchemy. Still, it would be a worthwhile experience for her. Most of the enemies she would come up against would have at least the same skill as Edward, if not more.

True, she still had quite a few tricks up her sleeve that had the potential to catch Edward off his guard. She had been given the title 'Wildcard' for a reason, after all. If she pulled them off correctly, she might have the slightest chance at winning this match. It wasn't much, but at least it was something.

They were standing in a grassy patch in the shadow of the large concrete building. The female alchemist smirked a little to herself- the Elric didn't know that in choosing this location he was giving her an advantage. Well, whatever. It wasn't like she was going to tell him that. He would find out soon enough just what she had been training herself to death – almost quite literally – in for the past few years. She only hoped that it would pay off- this would be her first real test against someone that didn't already know how she fought.

Alphonse took a place by one of the trees that were nearby. He leaned against it, but was smart enough not to sit down. He had learned over the years that no place was entirely safe during one of his brother's battles, and that it was very possible that he would need to get out of there in a heartbeat. He watched as his brother and his friend took their places on opposite ends, approximately ten yards from each other.

The two blonds prepared for their fight. Both Karmyn and Edward stripped themselves of their jackets, tossing them to one side. Ed stretched out his arms while Karmyn stood in place and re-pinned her hair even tighter, hoping that it wouldn't decide to come down while she was in the middle of the fight. Her gloves were off, and Al could see the unnatural silver glinting at the ends of her fingers. With her hairclip in place, she pulled her collapsed staff from where it hung at her belt. With a click, it sprung to its full length and she held it out parallel to the ground in front of her.

There was a determined glint in the narrowed blue-green eyes that evenly matched the one in the golden eyes across the way. The nineteen-year-old's own grey eyes flicked back and forth between the two alchemists that faced each other. Honestly, he had no clue what the outcome of this match would be. True, his brother was _the_ Fullmetal Alchemist, but if Karmyn's second name was truly as accurate as his brother's, his own, and the names of all the other alchemists they knew, then they could be in for a bit of a surprise. 'Wildcard' suggested that her methods of fighting would be unusual and unpredictable which would make it hard for Edward, whose own method was pretty straightforward, to adapt quickly.

Al knew that he should have been rooting for his brother, yet a part of him couldn't help but hope that it would in fact be Karmyn that won. Since they had taken their places, he had hardly been able to take his eyes off his wayward friend for longer than a few seconds at most. He told himself that it was because he hadn't seen her in years, and he was still trying to catalog the differences that those years had made.

From his vantage point by the tree, he could easily see the darker lines and roughened skin that marred the side of her face. Though truthfully, 'marred' wasn't quite the right word. There are some scars that do simply mutilate the flesh, but then there are also those that represent a sort of personal strength. The lines on Karmyn's face were of the second category, a physical reminder of the personal hell she had been through and come out on top of.

Of course, that could have just been his opinion. He seemed to be rather biased when it came to that woman, though he'd never admit it.

Karmyn, of course, was unaware of his gaze and the thoughts running through his head. She was a hundred percent focused on the Elric in front of her. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, steadying her muscles and her nerves as she did so. It was a trick that she had picked up when she had started gymnastics all those years ago, and it transferred nicely when she began to train her body once again.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she called across to her sparring partner, whose eyes glinted excitedly.

"Don't think I'm going to let you off easy because you're new at this!" He called as he clapped his hands and transmuted his arm into his standard blade.

"I wouldn't expect you to," was the calm reply in return. In her head, she was anything but calm. She was calculating her options, running each scenario through her head. She shifted her grip on her staff, grasping it more firmly. She heard the sharp clap of Edward creating his inner circle, and her attention was brought to the racing sparks of blue energy running toward her.

Grabbing her staff with her second hand, she predicted where the transmuted block of earth would shoot out from. As soon as it made its appearance, she smashed the end of her metal rod into it, disintegrating it before it hit her. Of course, as this was happening she was also aware of Edward running up behind his block of earth, ready to attack her once she was caught off guard by the alchemical barrage.

She had, of course, predicted this. Wasn't it usually what he did in a fight? At last, those hours of watching the FMA anime paid off. Almost as soon as she had hit the block with her staff, deconstructing it before it had fully manifested, she ducked in and rolled to the side. She slammed her right hand down onto the grass, activating the transmutation circle on her ring finger. Green light raced along the ground toward the other alchemist.

Al watched as the encounter took place. Already, he had no clue what the female was doing. She had deconstructed his brother's attack with a tap from her staff, leading him to believe that not only did she have circles on her fingers; she had a basic one on the flat end of her pole as well. He looked on in interest as the green light moved toward Edward. The only other time he had seen green alchemical light was during their run-in with the Tringham brothers, meaning that this must have been some sort of earth/plant alchemy that she was using now.

As he was running, Edward suddenly lost his balance. Instinctively, he tucked his body in and rolled forward in a somersault, keeping himself from landing flat on his face and using the momentum to propel himself back to his feet. What had caused him to misstep like that? It was as if his foot had glued itself to the ground for a split second, causing him to fumble when he went to pick it up again. When he looked down at said foot, he saw little tendrils of green sticking to it.

He shot a look at Karmyn, who by this point was back on her feet. It seemed that she had simply used this maneuver to buy her enough time to get back up. Edward raised his eyebrows, somewhat impressed. It certainly seemed like she had learned a trick or two since she'd been gone. Well. Let's see how far her little 'tricks' would get her.

Inside, Karmyn was elated. This was the first time she had used her alchemy in a practical encounter. Sure, she had trained like mad for years now, but this was the first serious fight that she had ever partaken in with her new skills. She was thrilled that her idea of growing grass over the Fullmetal Alchemist's foot to trip him up had actually worked, and she thanked the stars that she'd had the foresight to engrave a transmutation circle on the end of her staff.

Really, it was all a matter of thinking ahead.

She knew that if she allowed Edward to get close, he'd have the match in the bag. She could easily keep up alchemically, possibly even obtain the advantage, but she was no match for him physically in close combat. With this in mind, their battle continued.

Karmyn deflected the spikes that Edward shot at her with the end of her staff, deconstructing them back into nothing. Bracing herself, she flipped backward a few feet, putting some more space between her and her opponent. She fumbled a little on the landing, but managed to stay on her feet. When she once again had her balance, she set to spinning her staff in front of her as she had been doing just a bit earlier.

Alphonse could see the advantages to what she was doing. With the metal pole whirling, it would be hard for an opponent to find an opening without hurting themselves. He looked on in interest as his brother ran forward, searching for any opening he could find as he rushed her. He found one, and the air was suddenly filled with the sound of clanging metal as the automail met the polearm.

There was no shock absorbance in her staff, causing a bolt of pain to shoot up the female alchemist's arm. She grabbed her weapon with her free hand as well, giving herself a bit more force and control behind it. She and Edward exchanged blows for a few minutes, him on the offense and her on the defense. After a while she could feel the effects starting to take a toll on her arms, and she knew she had to get him off her somehow.

-O-o-O-

"_So you're telling me that you want to learn not only alchemy, but five specialized types?"_

"_Yes, ma'am."_

"_And you're doing this so that you can become a dog of the military?"_

"_Yes, ma'am. A most likely disobedient dog, but a dog all the same. I feel that it's what I have to do."_

_Silence. Then-_

"_I admire your drive and determination, and I know that if I won't train you, you will find someone who will. There is nothing I can say to stop you."_

"_Does that mean-"_

"_Explain 'All is one-'"_

"'_-and one is all.' Yes. I know. I am the one, the world is the all. The earth made me, and when I die, I will return to the earth."_

_Sigh._

"_You are intelligent. I really have no more excuses. We start early in the morning. Be ready then."_

"_Yes ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."_

"_Call me Teacher like the boys do."_

_A smile._

-O-o-O-

She activated the transmutation circle on her middle finger, moving her hands to the two spots on the staff that allowed her to hold it safely. She touched the transmutation circle to the smooth metal, charging it with electricity. This was the only way that she was able to use her alchemic electricity so far- whenever she tried to make a spark freely, it would simply blow up in her face. She needed the guidance in order for it to work properly.

The next time she blocked one of her friend's blows, he received a nasty shock of electricity through his automail arm. Metal conducts, after all. The electric charges that scurried through his arm messed with the minute electric pulses that controlled it, temporarily disabling his primary weapon.

Edward backed up a bit until he was out of reach of Karmyn. How was this? She was still green, and she hadn't made an offensive move yet. Why did it seem like she had the upper hand? In a way it felt like she was just playing with him, keeping him at bay when she could really just finish him off. He watched as she sent her staff back into the whirling pattern she had adopted before.

If he could just get the staff out of her hands . . .

By now, he was starting to regain a bit of control in his arm. He clenched and unclenched his fist until it felt normal again. Alright. He wasn't going to play around anymore.

Karmyn stood her ground as he ran at her again, a determined look in his eyes that she matched in her own. She ducked down, this time using the circle on her pinky finger. A thin sheet of ice began to expand from where she touched the ground, making it slippery and reducing the traction. She quickly stood up again so that she could begin the second part of her attack.

Ed had been running too fast to stop in time, so he couldn't help but be caught up by her ice trap. He slipped a little bit, and he almost didn't notice the branch of flames that came flying toward him as well. He used the ice to his advantage then, putting his hand down and sliding forward underneath the fiery attack. He came up in front of Karmyn, whose vision had been somewhat obscured by the fire.

He knocked the staff forcefully from her hand, catching her by surprise. A brief 'oh, crap' flashed upon her face before she flipped back from him once again, suggesting that Edward had just done the one thing that would win him this fight.

Karmyn bit her lip as she clapped her hands to elongate the claws on the backs of her fingers. Melee fighting wasn't her strong point- from here on out she would be imitating what she had seen Edward do in the past, warping it to fit her own style.

She clapped her hands and slammed them down on the ground, sending attacks of earth at her friend. He jumped over them easily, swiping at her once again with his arm. Clenching her teeth, she bent her fingers in what she recognized as an ASL 'e' so that her claws would overlap in front of her hand. It was in this way that she blocked his blade. It hurt, but it worked. She kicked out at him in a roundhouse kick, but he easily blocked this with his own leg.

Grabbing his automail arm with her hand, she activated her electric circle again. She heard him curse loudly as his arm was put temporarily out of commission once again. Wasting no time, she immediately bent down at ripped his pant leg with her claws so that she could do the same with his metal leg.

His leg buckled beneath him, and he knew that he was in for it if he didn't do something quickly. He had clearly underestimated just what she could do. It wasn't even that she was all that powerful- it was just that her methods of fighting were so damn unconventional! Wildcard was certainly one way of describing it!

Ed didn't have any more time to think as a large gust of wind caused him to lose his balance. He caught it again just as the woman was directing a kick at his solar plexus. Using his flesh hand, he caught her leg and yanked it around, causing her to fall to the ground. His victory was short-lived, however, as she had taken her new lower position to swipe his still-functioning foot out from underneath him.

In the end, both alchemists were on the ground. It was hard to tell who exactly had won, as they had both ended up in the same place.

"Draw?" Karmyn offered breathily as she reverted her claws. She of course thought that she had actually won, despite what she had thought earlier. She also knew what the Fullmetal Alchemist's ego was like, so she was willing to back down a bit. She had no compulsion to be better than the Hero of Amestris.

"Sure," Edward reluctantly agreed. He wasn't going to admit that the girl nearly bested him, probably _did_ best him. He knew that he had to give her some of the credit, however. He was actually pretty impressed by how much she had learned in the past few years, and the creative ways she was able to use that knowledge.

Al, seeing that the match was for all intents and purposes over, left his safe spot by the tree. Thoughts were tumbling over and over in his head, thoughts that were mostly centered around one blonde-haired alchemist. She had been so graceful as she was fighting, using her alchemy more as an art than a weapon. It was obvious that she had thought long and hard about all the various ways that she could use the alchemy in ways that would gain her the upper hand.

As he approached his friend and his brother, he saw that they were still both sitting on the ground, talking about something or other. Karmyn's hair had almost completely come out of its clip, and it was hanging around her shoulders. When she sensed him approaching, she broke off from her conversation with Ed and beamed at him.

It was when his heart skipped a beat that he knew he was in some serious trouble.

"Well, if you ask me, I won," she called out from where she was sitting. This statement brought an immediate reaction from Edward.

"Hey! I thought you said it was a draw!" he protested vehemently.

Karmyn stuck her tongue out at him childishly. "That's what I _said_," she pointed out, "not what I actually _thought_."

Alphonse was still watching them as the twenty year old clapped his hands and pressed them to the earth, causing cuffs of dirt to rise up around Karmyn's wrists and ankles. She tried to move, and when she couldn't, she glared at the man.

"I think I've won now," Ed told her. She simply raised an eyebrow.

Seconds later, Edward was also constrained. She had grown grass and vines around his legs and arms until he couldn't move just as much as she.

"Okay," she conceded, "maybe it's more of a stalemate."

Looking back and forth between them skeptically, Al couldn't help but break into laughter. It was almost as if they were a couple of bickering siblings. Either that or they were just a couple, but for some reason he didn't really want to think of the second one.

"Hey, Alphonse?" Karmyn asked innocently, looking up at him with wide eyes, "could you please~ undo these cuffs of mine?"

This shocked him for some reason, and he couldn't help but just stare at her for a second before processing what she said. "Uhm, sure," he said before doing just that.

Karmyn got up and stood over Edward for a minute. "I guess I should _probably _let you up as well," she said. "I get the feeling that the General would be pretty pissed at me if I didn't. I dunno. Maybe he would thank me. Al, what do you think?"

"Uhm, he _is_ my brother," the alchemist pointed out to her.

"Right. Well, for you then. For you, I'll let your brother up." With that, she placed her hand on the ground and unwound the grasses from around Ed.

For the next few hours, they just messed about Central as if they were seventeen and eighteen again. It had been a long time since Karmyn had allowed herself just to relax and have fun, and she was enjoying every bit of it with her best friends. Edward cheered up about the results of their match, and Al was left thinking about things he thought had faded away long ago . . .

None of them spoke of the impending mission across the desert.

-O-o-O-

_8.16.2012_


	8. Little Things Matter A Lot Nowadays

_10.8.2012_

Please don't kill me. It's been over two months, I know. Just … school and life have gotten in my way, as well as recently obsessing over a Doctor Who fic a friend and I are writing. Okay? Just … please don't kill me. If you kill me, then you will never get another update again, because even my friends don't know where I'm going with this.

I've also found it harder to write for Fullmetal Alchemist recently. I've kind of fallen out of the fandom a bit. Don't worry, I still love it and all that, and I WILL finish this story. It's just … a little harder than it was.

I had a day off of school today due to hurricane Sandy, so I seized advantage of this and finished this chapter.

-O-o-O-

_It was dark out now, and the house was silent save for the flipping of pages and the creaking of a pen against paper. There were no lights on save for the one dim lamp in the uppermost corner room. For the person occupying that one room, the silence was welcomed._

_She had been studying at the Curtis' house for nearly three weeks. Her days were filled with combat training and practical alchemy usage. Her nights were secretly filled with even more book learning. Recently, she'd had a one-track mindset- a mindset to learn and cram as much as possible. The older woman was constantly trying to get her to take a break, to do something else for once, but the blonde-haired alchemist constantly refused. She wanted to get back to the Elrics as quickly as possible- she couldn't handle distractions._

_The page of the book flipped once again, and she continued to read and take notes in the dim yellow light. She had no real idea of the time, but she guessed that it was around one in the morning. Her eyes were heavy with the lack of sleep, yet she refused to turn in. Every time she slept, she was plagued with the nightmares of the now, the then, and the future. The time was much better put to use studying to further her cause._

_She knew that her teacher thought that something was up. She knew that the dark-haired lady had seen the ever-increasing prominent circles underneath the blue-green eyes. She also knew that she had to pretend that everything was fine, otherwise the woman would refuse to teach her any more until she 'got her act together.'_

_Her act _was _together. She was _fine_._

_There was honestly nothing to worry about._

-O-o-O-

**12 June, 1919**

Karmyn awoke early that morning, just as she always did. For the past few years, she had never slept much past five am. It was just a habit that she had gotten into. It was odd in contrast to when she slept until eleven back in America. She used to hate getting up before the sun rose- now it was like second nature.

She was greatly appreciative to the fact that last night had been one of her less stressful nights. She hadn't actually had to deal with any serious nightmares. Therefore, when she woke up, she was in a rather pleasant mood for once. She rolled off her bed easily and landed nimbly on her feet. She took a brief glance around her room before getting ready for the day.

The past week had gone a lot better than it could have. After the initial awkwardness, the trio of the Elrics and Dallas began to knit itself back together. True, they still weren't as close as they once had been, but it was a great improvement as to how Karmyn had thought it would go. She had brought them up to speed on the situation with the Homunculi, and she was so relieved when they firmly agreed to help her. She hadn't yet told them of her trials and tribulations of the past two years, but she was getting to that slowly. She wasn't quite ready herself to talk about them yet.

Today she dressed in a green tank top and skirt, lending the illusion that the outfit was more like a dress than two separate pieces. She had cleaned off her combat boots and pocketwatch as well, so they looked shiner than they normally did. She clipped her staff to her belt and slid on her gloves as usual. However, she left her coat hanging over the back of a chair.

For the first time in a long while, she left her hair down. She brushed it out as she usually did, but she let it fall down over her shoulders. That isn't to say that she didn't nab a hair elastic and slide it onto her wrist so that she could put it up if she had to. It was odd to her, feeling her hair on her bare upper back. It was even a little uncomfortable, as like the sheets, it felt as if it was somehow entangling her. She knew better, but she couldn't squash the feeling completely.

After briefly checking herself in the mirror (and being surprised by the difference with her hair down), she flicked off the lights and headed out of her place of residence. Once again, she left a note on the door for the Elrics, who usually woke up at least an hour after her.

_**Visiting Dad. I'll meet you at HQ later.  
-Karmyn **_

That last bit was important- she was expecting the woman any day now, and she would hate it if they missed each other. Humming a little tune, she headed toward the other military building across the way.

Her father lived in the military quarters as well, having had nothing when he accidentally landed in Amestris a few years ago. After the military had accepted him, he had gratefully taken residence in the rooms provided. He kept saying that he would get a real residence in Central, but that was harder than it sounds. He, however, didn't live in the same building as his daughter as he was a regular officer and not an alchemist.

Karmyn quickly found her father's rooms with the ease of someone who had been there multiple times. She knocked on the door quietly, as it was still only five-thirty in the morning, but she didn't have to wait long before the door opened.

She was greeted by a man with the messy mop of black hair that one has before they've brushed it. He looked a bit weary, but immediately grinned upon seeing her. Karmyn couldn't help but grin back. This man was Robert Cross, her father. The only person that knew the full story of what had occurred after her separation from the Elrics. The man that she thought had abandoned her at age fifteen, but in reality had been forcefully ripped away.

"Karmyn! I wasn't expecting you _this_ early. Come in, please! Give me a minute to brush my hair, though." He had a sheepish look on his face as he ran his fingers through the hair that fell into his face. It was times like this that she was reminded of just how relatively young he still was. He was thirty-seven now, only seventeen years older than herself.

He had been twenty when she was born, but he had been thirty-five when he had been snatched into the alternate universe of FMA. Two years had passed for her while only a few weeks had gone by for him. It was a little odd, but in some way it made it easier for her to relate to him. Of course, people were usually shocked when they found out that she was his daughter.

"Of course, Dad. I'll just wait here for a couple minutes," she told her father. He then disappeared back toward what she knew was the bathroom. She inhaled deeply, still somewhat tired from just waking up, and took a seat on one of the chairs in the small living room. She didn't feel like a stranger in this place- she never had.

Only a couple minutes later, Robert returned with his hair neatly brushed. He wore his military uniform, as he would be going in to work soon enough. Honestly, if she weren't his daughter, Karmyn would think he was plenty attractive enough. But she was, so that would be creepy.

"Happy birthday, Karmyn Marie Dallas," he greeted her as he entered the room. He had a goofy grin on his face. "Twenty years old … wow. Where has the time gone?"

Karmyn beamed up at her dad as he sat down beside her on the couch. "Well, you weren't around for two of them," she said jokingly. "Time flies when you're in an alternate universe."

The joke fell flat as a remorseful expression crept its way onto the soldier's face. Despite the fact that his daughter no longer blamed him any for those two missed years, he still felt extremely guilty about the situation. He accepted the fact that there had been nothing he could do about it, but he felt that he should have at least tried. Karmyn insisted on telling him it wasn't his fault, but he had yet to completely believe that.

"Sorry Dad," she apologized. "I've found myself putting things in perspective recently. I forget that others aren't able to do that."

Robert smiled. "That's fine, sweetheart," he told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in affectionately, "you don't ever have to apologize for that."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before her father broke in again. "I don't have anything to give you," he said suddenly. "I just don't know what you like anymore. Not to mention that you're always on the move-"

Karmyn cut him off. "You're here. That's good enough for me, any day."

It sounded rather sappy, but it was the truth. Having her father there for her, just _knowing_ that she could talk to him, had helped her greatly throughout the years that she had been adjusting to life in the FMA 'verse. He had been a constant, someone that she had known back home. With everything that had continuously changed in the three years that she had lived in Amestris, a constant was the one thing that she had needed the most.

Robert smiled at his daughter, hugging her a little tighter before letting her go. "Come into Headquarters with me today," he suggested. "You know the men will want the chance to wish you a happy birthday as well. Actually, they insisted that I drag you in somehow."

Karmyn laughed as she stood. She had guessed something like that would happen. Months ago, Breda had asked her when her birthday was. She had answered him, not thinking anything of it. It was only afterward that she realized what she had done. Not that she really minded.

"Well then," she said as her father stood as well, "I guess we'd better get over there then. I left a note for Ed and Al so they won't panic when they find me gone. I'll meet them at HQ later."

"You are pretty attached to those boys," the older man commented, not for the first time. "Are you sure that-"

"NO!" Karmyn snapped back at him before he even finished what he'd been saying. "We've been over this what, ten times or so now? My answer's not gonna change."

"You never know," Robert continued infuriatingly. "You might-"

"Dad." Karmyn sighed, turning back to look at him. "It's not gonna happen. Stop trying to make it happen. It only makes things awkward for me."

Her father just looked at her with an amused expression on his face. "Alright," he said, "I'll stop if you really want me to."

The alchemist rolled her eyes at her father's tone. It was the tone of voice that suggested that he really wasn't going to do as he said he would. "_Thank_ you," she told him. With that, the exchange was dropped and the two of them headed out toward the main building of Headquarters.

It wasn't an unusual sight, seeing the petite blonde alchemist walking to the offices with the young messy-haired officer. Of course, when the two of them had first started to walk into work together, there had been talk of a scandal and fraternization. It had really been quite amusing to listen to. After a few days, however, people learned that the two of them were father and daughter. This of course led to other talk, considering how relatively close their ages were, but the worst of it died down pretty quickly.

They entered Central Headquarters, greeting the officers that they knew as they walked in. The father-daughter duo was generally well-liked among the complex despite the mystery and intrigue that surrounded them. Of course, having close ties with the most prominent unit in the military helped as well.

It wasn't much longer until they reached the expansive double doors that led to the General's office. Karmyn mentally braced herself as her father pushed the two wooden doors open. As they stepped inside, the officers of Mustang's unit turned to look at them. Colonel Riza Hawkeye sighed as she realized that no work would be done that morning, but she too had a smile on her face.

-O-o-O-

"_Once more. Please. I know I can get it," the blonde-haired teen pleaded with her instructor. She _needed_ to get it. It was a rather difficult move, but just a couple more times and she knew she could succeed._

"_Karmyn, you're _swaying_. You can hardly stand, let alone spar. We've been at this for a while. It's time to take a break," the older woman said disapprovingly._

"_I'm _fine_," she insisted. "Teacher, please."_

"_Listen to yourself. If this is how you're going to be, then I won't teach you anything further. _I'm _taking a break. _You're_ going to think about what you're doing to yourself. I know that you're staying up late most nights. You skip meals to study or train. You won't acknowledge that you're stressing yourself beyond your limits. Even I know that a break is necessary. Karmyn, just think. This isn't good for you."_

"_But … I'm fine …" the aspiring alchemist protested. She blinked to clear her vision a bit. "I'm honestly feeling …" she trailed off a little bit as she swayed a little harder on her feet. "I can do this! Just a little … longer …" She blinked again, harder. Why was it suddenly so hard to see?_

"_Karmyn?" She heard her teacher exclaim. After that, the world went black. _

_At least black wasn't nightmares._

-O-o-O-

She sat on the corner of one of the desks in the room, her legs dangling off the side. She swung them freely, though taking care not to kick the desk. She had already been thoroughly embarrassed by the attention that she had been given. She had even been handed a birthday gift from the crew, which surprised the heck out of her.

Taking it gratefully, that was when she had assumed her current position upon the desk. Upon the men's pressuring, she had carefully unwrapped the small parcel she had been given. After the brown paper had been removed and discarded to the floor, she had taken a closer look at the item she held in her hands.

Black leather encased a strong wooden handle. As she had pulled the two apart, she had been met with a shiny reflective blade. It was a small dagger, the blade reaching the length of her hand. With the handle it only reached the center of her forearm.

"We felt we had to get something for you," Havoc had explained. "You've been like a part of the family for a while now."

"We all threw in a few Cens," Fuery had added, "Even the General."

"I-" Karmyn had been thrown for quite a loop. "But this looks expensive!" She had protested, "I can't accept this!"

"Just take it," Mustang had told her in his no-nonsense commander's voice. "We want you to have it."

She had glanced over at Hawkeye then, who had only nodded at her.

"O- Okay," she had consented. "Thank you."

And thus here she was, sitting on the corner of the desk. Her new knife was resting sheathed in her lap. She watched as the men and woman in the room chatted amiably. She occasionally joined in the conversation, adding her two Cens' worth. She laughed along with some of the inside jokes that were told- after all, she had been there for them.

It was a long story that included her temporarily disguising herself as a brown-eyed redhead and joining Mustang's unit while he was teaching her fire alchemy. She was still sometimes teased by the men for her choice in hair color. What could she say? She had always wanted to be ginger. She just took the opportunity when it presented itself. Besides, red hair was closer to blonde than say brown or black.

Someone had just recounted an extremely hilarious scenario (at least to them- not so much to Karmyn as it was her they were poking fun at) when the Elrics finally entered the room. Karmyn saw them first and waved them over with a grin on her face. She could see that they were a little confused at the scene that was in front of them.

They were a little confused …

Crap.

She had never told them when her birthday was, had she? Winry knew, she remembered that. They had been psyched when they found out their birthdays were only three days apart. A cold sense of dread manifested itself in her stomach as she realized that she had never actually told Edward and Alphonse.

"Hey, it's Fullmetal and Soul!"

Wait … Soul?

"Well this is different," Edward observed. "What's the big occasion?"

"Oh, you mean you didn't know?" Havoc responded to his question in disbelief. He couldn't believe that the alchemist had to ask, but the guilty look on Karmyn's face caused him to do so.

"It was my birthday today," The (female) blonde alchemist told her friends sheepishly. She bit her lip, preparing herself for the tongue lashing she knew she would get.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Alphonse asked softly, hurt. The room fell silent, all ears on the three of them.

She wouldn't admit it but hearing the quiet, almost betrayed tone hurt ten times worse than it would have if Edward had just yelled at her incredulously. She looked down at her hands, which were fiddling with the leather-encased knife that was still resting in her lap. She looked up at the younger Elric, then the elder one. "When could I have? It never came up. And then …" she trailed off. Everyone knew what the 'and then' signified.

"Right," Al replied, "so you figured you just wouldn't tell us, and let us either find out from someone else or miss it altogether."

"I-" What could she say to that? She glanced back and forth between the two of them. Al's expressions may be a little more visible on his face, but Karmyn could tell that Edward was also hurt at her failure to convey information.

Had this been two years ago, back before everything went to pieces, this would not have been such a big deal. Yeah, they would have been surprised. There would have been a 'why didn't you tell us?' But now … she'd already betrayed their trust once. She had kept information from them. She hadn't told them anything. She was still keeping some information from them.

_They couldn't trust her. She had already lied and kept information from them before, _she thought.

_She couldn't trust them. She had drawn into herself and refused to let anyone in, including them, _they thought.

"I'm sorry," she finally told them, skillfully avoiding Alphonse's accusation. What else was there to say?

"Well, happy birthday, Karmyn." Edward told her a bit awkwardly.

"Yeah," Al just agreed, seemingly lost in thought.

A thick silence fell over the room. For several minutes, no one talked. Karmyn shifted uncomfortably on the desk, wishing to just get the hell out of there.

"Well," she said. "Thank you for everything." She smiled at the officers that still sat observing the trio of alchemists. "Bye, Dad. I'll see you later, okay?"

"See you then, sweetheart."

The pet name brought her lips up in a small half-smile. "Yeah."

She glanced anxiously at the Elric brothers once again, and in seeing no substantial change in their expressions, quickly ducked out of the room.

She was immediately accosted by an officer that she vaguely recognized as from the unit that belonged to the man she was supposed to report to. She sighed exasperatedly, not in the mood to deal with the infuriating man she was supposed to call her commanding officer.

"Yes?" She asked of the officer impatiently.

"Ms. Dallas, Colonel Allemagne wishes to see you in his office right away. He wishes to speak with you about your blatant misconduct."

Allemagne. Right. That was his name. Frederick Allemagne. Not that she cared any.

"Listen," she told the officer sharply, "My day has just turned for the worse, my friends hate me, and I have a mission that I may have just botched up right before I even started. So DON'T expect me to make my day even worse and talk to that man that tries to keep me on a shortened tether. Tell Frederick that he can go shut the flapping hell up. I won't become his show horse. Go."

When she turned around, the Elrics were standing a few yards away from her. They had quite obviously heard every word she had said. Edward opened his mouth to speak, but Karmyn cut him off. She couldn't handle any more cold, hurt, or etcetera words from the two men she still called her best friends.

"Just don't," she said dejectedly. "I can't take it anymore. Yeah, I know I just fucked all this up royally. You don't have to tell me again." She looked to Alphonse, whose face was so conflicted with emotions that she couldn't read a single one of them. "And you," she told him, "when were you gonna tell me you became a State Alchemist as well?"

She sighed. "Look, I'm probably heading out to Xing tomorrow or the day after. It's your choice whether you come with me or not. I … don't want this to be the sound of something ending. I want this to work. You're still my best friends. But at the same time … I don't want this to continue if it's only going to be one-sided. Yes I have secrets. Have I told you everything? No. Might I eventually tell you everything if you give me the chance? Yes.

"We can't go back to the way we were before, but … we could create something new. Something different. Something better.

"I've laid all my cards on the table. Now it's your turn."

Karmyn just couldn't wait to hear their response. She didn't want to hear it if the answer was 'no.' So she fixed her gaze on each one of them once and walked away.

They were a yo-yo. One moment it was as if the two years never happened, the next it looked as if it were impossible to recover from them.

_Happy birthday to me_, she thought sarcastically as she walked away from the mess she had made of things once again.

-O-o-O-

_Shorter chapter, I know, but I really wanted to get something to you._

_I know that things really aren't working out for the trio at the moment, but things will get better. Just … slowly._

_The entire second half I was listening solely to 'Madame de Pompadour' from the Doctor Who soundtrack. It fits the mood perfectly._

_Anyhow yeah. I'm back! Hopefully._

-O-o-O-

_10.29.2012_

_10.29.2012_


	9. Keeping a Friend and Hold On- What?

_11.4.2012_

Election Day! Let's just cross our fingers and hope that the right candidate gets picked.

But, disregarding politics, I have a new chapter for you. What's this? Two chapters in two weeks? Wow. This never happens with this story …

Okay, brilliant, BRILLIANT picture of Karmyn done by **Roseacoco. **You all deserve to see it. ** rosel-ea . deviantart gallery /# /d5jjdsz**

-O-o-O-

_Her eyes opened groggily. Where was she? What happened? She blinked once, hard. Around her, she heard anxious voices going back and forth with one another. What was the problem? What was everyone so worried about?_

_For a second, she managed to focus her eyes enough to take in her surroundings. Her heart seized in fear when she took in the blindingly white walls. "_No_," she whimpered. She started squirming against what seemed like restraints keeping her to the bed. _"No!_" she protested again, thrashing harder. Almost immediately, several pairs of hands landed on her limbs, keeping her still._

_Several shouts and a frightening familiar prick in her arm soon had her slipping back into unconsciousness. Quietly, two trails of liquid navigated their way from the corners of her eyes to down the sides of her face. _

_Even in her unconscious state, the girl quivered uncontrollably. She mumbled fearfully in her sleep, unable to prevent the rush of memories from flooding in and dragging her back to the compound in the snow._

-O-o-O-

**13 June, 1919**

ONE DAY EARLIER:

"_Look, I'm probably heading out to Xing tomorrow or the day after. It's your choice whether you come with me or not. I … don't want this to be the sound of something ending. I want this to work. You're still my best friends. But at the same time … I don't want this to continue if it's only going to be one-sided. Yes I have secrets. Have I told you everything? No. Might I eventually tell you everything if you give me the chance? Yes._

"_We can't go back to the way we were before, but … we could create something new. Something different. Something better._

"_I've laid all my cards on the table. Now it's your turn."_

Edward ran a hand through his hair, pausing for a before letting his arm drop with a loud sigh. He opened his mouth to say something- _anything_ that could get her to turn around and just _listen_ to them for once. He wracked his brains anxiously, looking for the words that could repair things.

_Karmyn, would you please just give us a minute to talk first?  
Karmyn, you just keep hurting yourself by doing this.  
Karmyn, we still want to be your friends.  
Karmyn, we want to help you.  
Karmyn, we don't care.  
Karmyn, wait.  
Karmyn!_

He opened his mouth once again, but again no words came out. He ran a hand through his bangs once again in frustration, tugging a little bit at his hair. Still, nothing worked. He just couldn't get the words out to bring her back to them.

The thing was, he couldn't find fault in any of her words. He had often been the same way when was younger. He had kept secrets, kept things to himself when they should have been shared with others. He hadn't let anyone in but his younger brother, and even then he hadn't told him everything. He knew how things could just build up inside a person until their view of the situation was so influenced by their own thoughts that they couldn't see the truth.

He knew how that felt, and thus he understood what she had been saying.

Thus, he couldn't bring himself to argue with her.

Thus, she had just seemingly walked out of their life for the _n_th time and he had just _let_ her.

He gave up trying as she disappeared from sight. He looked over at Alphonse with a defeated look in his eyes. The younger man, it seemed, wasn't doing much better than he. It was curious, however, that there was a hard glint in his brother's eyes. There was hurt, yes. But instead of a softened gaze, there was exactly the opposite.

Alphonse couldn't believe what she had just gone and done _again_. Did she really think she was avoiding being hurt that way? How could she come up with all these conclusions and _believe_ them without even hearing their side of the story? His side of the story? Did she even think for a second about the pain that she was causing _them_ as well, or did she only ever think of herself now?

He had though that they were fixing things- that they were getting back to the way that they had been before. It now seemed he had been deluding himself for the past week or so. The worst thing was that he felt guilty. He felt as if this entire conflagration was almost his fault.

The whole birthday thing hadn't even been that big a deal. He couldn't blame her for not telling them what her birthday was. She had been ripped away from them before the feasible time that it would have been mentioned. Even if she had told them, it would have only been in passing and he probably would have forgotten about it. So why had he been so hurt? It was a question he couldn't even answer himself.

Even further than that, he felt that even her capture by Envy had been partially his fault. He should have started putting two and two together. The way that Neidel had acted in the same generally creepy way as Envy. The way he had called Edward 'Pipsqueak.' The Drachman terrorist on the train. He had been with Karmyn for over a month- he should have taught her to defend herself better. To fight. The killer was that he had been the last person to see Karmyn before she disappeared. If he had stayed with her, or said 'screw it' to Armstrong's orders and told her to help fight alongside them, then Envy wouldn't have gotten her.

Hell, if he had voiced his opinions to Edward way back when they first met her, that they should stay away from her, that she was far too perceptive for their own good, then they wouldn't be in this predicament. He and Ed would have found out about Philosophium eventually, although it would be under a different name. They would have figured out the secret to transmutation on that side of the Gate, even though it would be decades, maybe centuries later. Karmyn would still be living with her mother, still have her best friend at her side. She would have been valedictorian of her class, moving on to become a successful scientist. She would have met someone and settled down and had the standard 2.5 children and a house.

She would have never become as traumatized, closed-off or as broken as she was now. She wouldn't be a fighter. She wouldn't be dealing with all of the shit that seemed to come along with the Elrics and dragged everyone involved with them into it.

In a way, it was his entire fault.

And it was up to him to set it as right as it could be.

He looked over at his brother, who was searching his expression for who-knows-what. He shot a weak, twisted smile back at him. Edward smiled back at him, and they silently agreed on one simple fact.

The Elrics didn't make friends easily, but when they did they valued them more than anything else, excluding each other of course. They would make it through this somehow.

PRESENT DAY:

She had left a note on her door again, as she did every morning. She had bitten her lip hard as she had put it up. She couldn't help but think that it was a false hope, especially after the go she had had at them the day before, but she still left it for them in the faint hope that she hadn't completely screwed up.

_**I'm at the caf**__**é**__** at the corner of the next block down.**_

_**-Karmyn**_

It was a bright, sunny day that didn't match her mood at all. She had worn all black, her jacket pulled on over her arms and shoulders as if it were a suit of armor. She had left her hair down once again, using it to shield her face from curious onlookers. Where she usually displayed her scars for all to see, today she didn't feel like encountering the curious stares.

As she approached the building, her sixth sense began to sense the presence of the double wavelength. Good, that must mean she was already here then. When she reached the café, she silently slid into a chair at an already occupied table. Her tablemate looked up from the small menu at her and flashed a small smile. Karmyn returned the smile and took a menu for herself. They ordered quickly and examined each other quietly.

The woman facing her was the same enigmatic woman that Karmyn had run into a couple times while exploring Amestris with Alphonse. She didn't look much different than she had then- dressed in black, dark hair pulled back, positioning herself in a rather masculine way. This woman had become invaluable to Karmyn in her quest to find the Homunculi.

This woman was Ava Ricenna, whose mystery she had finally been able to crack.

"Took you long enough, Brighteyes. It's been a week since I called you with the information," she opened without a greeting.

"Yeah," Karmyn replied sheepishly, "sorry about that. Things came up."

"'Things' referring to those two blonds you call friends? You finally got around to getting back to them?"

"Yeah … you were right," she said quietly. "I should've gone sooner."

"Look, hun. You can't change the past. You can only move on. They won't help you? You don't need it, doll."

Karmyn laughed. "I wish," she said. "Anyhow. 'Dolls' brings us to why we're here. Are they still there? In your cabinet?"

"Last I heard, darling." Ava replied. "I don't think they're moving anywhere. The bastards are biding their time. For what, I'm not sure."

They sat there for an hour or two, discussing battle strategies and the best way to incapacitate their enemy. Karmyn would have to say that she was really not looking forward to crossing the desert- that was certain. They were beginning to wrap up when the alchemist froze.

"What is it, hun?" Ava asked when she realized that Karmyn wasn't moving.

"It's them," she all but whispered. "It's them. They actually came …"

"Are you sure? It could be anyone, you know."

But Karmyn knew. There was no one else she had sensed in Amestris with wavelengths like theirs. Strong, determined … noticeable. So similar that only the minute differences notified her of which was which.

And they were moving towards them at a speed that could only mean that they were running.

Did this mean that they had forgiven her? Had she really just been reading things into the way they acted the day before? She couldn't stop the jittery feeling from arising in her throat and stomach. Her feet itched- more than anything she just wanted to run away. Run away from this mess, this drama, from the trouble she'd had. But no- she had done enough running. It was time to finally face them again.

"You okay, sweetheart?"

Ava's concerned tone broke her train of thought, bringing her back into the real world again. Karmyn smiled grimly. "Yeah, I'm fine, Av. Don't worry."

She turned to face the entrance to the café as the two presences continued to get closer. It wasn't much longer until the two blonds appeared in her vision. Smiling weakly, she waited as the gold and grey eyes scanned the area. Expressions were tense, and a small bit of regret twanged somewhere within her. She really had been wrong. How could she have said what she did? She had obviously worried them.

The tension faded as their gaze finally rested upon her. Edward began making his way over, Alphonse following short behind. Karmyn's knees nearly buckled in nerves, and she steadied herself on the table behind her.

"I'm sorry," she said as soon as they were within earshot. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean any of it. Well, I did, but not in the way it came out. I-"

"Don't worry about it. We're not mad at you. I understand how you felt," Edward interrupted her, cutting her off from her ranting apologies.

"We were wrong," Alphonse said quietly from his place just behind his brother. "You didn't do anything."

"No," Karmyn insisted, "I was wrong. I should have told you stuff. Maybe not just my birthday, but other stuff as well."

"Oh geez," a drawling voice cut in. "You're sorry, they're sorry, can we all just move on already? The sappy words are starting to get to my head. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends, girlie?"

Oh, right. About that …

"Hey!" Al exclaimed, a glimmer of recognition appearing on his face. "You're the one that carried Karmyn back to me in Ceredigion!"

"Give the boy an award," Ava said with an accompanying slow clap. "Come on, Karmyn. I know them, but I don't think they know me just yet, judging by their faces."

The Wildcard alchemist bit down on her lower lip, trying to judge the repercussions that this meeting might have. Whelp, no way of knowing until it actually happened.

"Ed, Al, meet Ava Ricenna. Or, as you may be more familiar with- Greed."

-O-o-O-

_When she woke again, she had a better idea of where she was. Her heartbeat still increased with the sight of the whitewashed walls, but rationale told her that there was no possible way that she was back in Drachma. Or one, she was too warm. Blinking, she became more aware of her actual surroundings._

_She was in a hospital room- that was a fact. An IV drip hung beside her, the tube running down to where it was inserted into her arm. Karmyn let out a loud sigh. Just what mess had she gotten herself into now? Why was she even here? She didn't have time to by lying on a hospital bed!_

_Just as she was about to rip the IV out of her arm, one of the nurses entered the room. _

"_Oh, you're awake," she said, sounding surprised._

"_How long have I been out?" Karmyn asked as she inched her hand away from where it had been about to pull the IV._

"_Three days now," the nurse said as she opened the curtains on the far side of the room. "You gave us quite a scare."_

_Three days? What? "Three … days? What happened? What was wrong?"_

_The nurse looked at her with a raised eyebrow, a clear 'are you kidding me' look upon her face. "Exhaustion, malnutrition, along with a plethora of other minor problems. Were you trying to run yourself into the ground?"_

_Karmyn sank back, defeated. "When can I leave?"_

"_When we say you can. Now get some more rest."_

-O-o-O-

"Greed?"

Both Elrics looked at Ava with indescribable expressions on their faces. It was really quite amusing, if Karmyn did say so herself. She could almost see the gears whirring in their intelligent heads.

"Hello, Elrics. Long time no see," she said with a cheeky grin, holding up one of her hands in acknowledgement. "I see you got taller, Ed!"

Edward simply rolled his eyes, though his hands clenched into tightened fists. It was how he kept himself from exploding like his fifteen-year-old self had. Still, it was partially his confusion that kept him under control. This person was Greed? Greed was a woman?

"But ... how?"

"It's rather a long story," Karmyn told them, exchanging a glance with – Ava? Greed? – before looking back at them. "You'd better sit down."

And thus all four of them were sitting around the table at the café, leaning in and speaking in hushed tones as to not let any of the other patrons hear them. It was Karmyn that started them off initially.

"Well, you should know that since I've been in Amestris, I've been able to feel people's presences. I'm still not entirely sure why, but I can. I didn't realize that until a while after I arrived, though. Anyhow, I could tell that there was something off about this one woman I kept running into. Hers was kind of a double presence. I ran into her again while we were in Dublith, and she gave me a warning. I realize now that the 'cuckoo in the nest' she had been talking about was Envy-slash-Neidel. When I was in Dublith the second time, she sought me out and told me the truth. Since then she's been helping me to track down the other Homunculi."

"You should know," continued Ava, "that the Homunculi are mortal now. After you destroyed their immortal bodies, their souls drifted for a while until they found a suitable 'host.' I'm not entirely sure about the others, but for example, this girl was greedy. She was a thief that always wanted more. She had actually been involved with those guys you met in Ceredigion before I came into the picture. So Envy would have found someone envious-"

Here Karmyn cut in. "Andrei Utkin. The younger brother of Victor Utkin, the leader of Drachma. He had plenty to be envious about. His brother got all the power, all the attention, while he got nothing. Envy took advantage of that."

Al's eyes widened in shock. "You mean that entire war …"

"… Was masterminded by Envy. Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying." Karmyn said matter-of-factly.

"We kept our powers," Ava continued. "For example, I can still do _this_," she said as she created the carbon coating on her hand. "Envy can still shapeshift, that's why he could pass as Neidel. He will be the only one that looks the same as he did a few years ago. The others will still have their powers- the claws, the shadows, the eye, and the appetite. However, unless you see them use those powers, you won't be able to tell them for who they actually are. Yes, they'll have the Ouroboros, but if they're smart they'll be covering that up."

"That's where I come in," Karmyn explained with a sigh. "I can sense them. They have a sort of double presence, as if the person has two souls. Which, of course, they do, as there is both the Homunculus and the person. That's why I'm the only one that can take this mission."

"You can't kill them, though," Ava said, leaning back in her chair. "If you kill them, their consciousness will simply find someone new. The seven sins never die. They're never eradicated from this world. They will always manifest in someone new. If you do find them, you need to knock them out. Put them into a coma. Make them a vegetable. Incapacitate them. It sounds inhumane, but it's the only way."

"But … what about the people that they had manifested themselves in? You can't seriously think that we'd be okay with putting innocent people into a coma! There must be some way to do this without going that far!" Edward protested.

"There is no other way!" Karmyn exclaimed. "Don't you see? I've been trying to figure out another way for over a year now! I've thought about it over and over again, but I just can't see it! If you have a better idea, please say so now. I don't want to do this anymore than you do, but unfortunately I have to."

Silence fell over the table as everyone took in the words that had been spoken. Finally, Alphonse broke the awkward air surrounding them.

"But … why did you choose to manifest yourself in a woman? I mean, surely there were greedy men as well?"

"Kid, I'm greedy for everything. Money, women – though I guess that's men now – power … knowledge. And there's some knowledge that can only be gained by the opposite sex. There are two sides to every coin, and I want to see both of them."

Al didn't respond verbally, but both he and Edward nodded in understanding. Karmyn could see that they were somewhat impressed by the Homunculus's reasoning. She couldn't blame them- she had been as well.

Karmyn stretched as she stood from the table- she had really been there too long. "Well, I guess I had better go pack. I'm hoping to be on the eastern border by tonight. I've really stayed here for far too long already."

And once again, she walked off. The Elrics exchanged exasperated looks before Alphonse got up and ran after her. Edward did the same, although he followed behind a bit.

Al caught up to the wayward alchemist just a few steps down the street. "Karmyn, wait!"

Karmyn spun to face the grey-eyed alchemist as he ran up beside her. "Yes?"

"We _are_ coming with you, alright? So… don't leave without us, okay?"

The hesitant tone in her (hopefully still) best friend's voice was enough to make her smile. With a glimmer in her eye, she punched his arm playfully. "Don't sound so unsure! Of course I won't leave without you. That is, if you're ready to go when I am. I won't tolerate lateness," she said cheekily. The answering smile from the taller alchemist told her that she had succeeded in her goal.

A comfortable silence fell between them for a minute before Karmyn spoke up once again. "We're okay, right?"

Alphonse gave a small chuckle at that. "Now who's unsure?" he teased her lightly. She simply shook her head in amusement. "Yeah," he continued, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "We're okay."

A second later, Edward came up on her other side and did the same, so Karmyn was sandwiched between her two best friends. She couldn't help but let out an overjoyed laugh as she was flooded with happiness for what was probably the first time in two years. As long as she was with the Elrics, she could do anything.

It was a good feeling to have.

-O-o-O-

_I'm sorry they keep getting shorter! I really am! I was writing 5,000 word chapters and now this one's not even 4,000. I'm really sorry. I am trying to keep them about twice the length as _Truth & Fiction_ chapters … I hope I'm at least somewhat succeeding with that._

**I'M TAKING A HIATUS THROUGH THE MONTH OF DECEMBER**

_For all of my stories, not just this one. I want the time to write more, backpile chapters, etc. I will continue posting up until December 1__st__, don't worry. This isn't an immediate hiatus. I'm just warning you that I will not be posting anything for any of my stories through the month of December._

-O-o-O-

_11.6.2012_

_11.6.2012_


	10. Adventures Stuck on a Train to Xing

_11.17.2012_

I am so sorry. I said hiatus through December, and it's February. That number just above there is the date that I started this chapter … yeah.

But here it is! I'm so psyched that I finally finished it! It may not be the best chapter that I've written, I've felt that it's a bit forced in some places, but I got it friggen _done_. Now I can move on!

And I've started a new fanfiction story for _Rise of the Guardians_. It's updated regularly every Saturday morning (so far) and it's called **Págo to Kalokaíri : Summer Ice**. I'm writing it with a friend of mine, and we have so much fun doing so. So yeah. Shameless self-plug. If you're interested, then yeah. Look for it on my profile.

Now onto the story!

-O-o-O-

_For the first time since the Incident, Karmyn was forced to take some downtime. It was not something she enjoyed, but the nurses refused to even let her out of bed. She squirmed underneath the covers that were on the bed. When she could, she maneuvered herself so that she was on top of the restricting cloth. It was a war of attrition however, as the nurses kept moving her back underneath the sheets. _

_They had called a doctor in to re-evaluate her, and what he told her was nothing that she hadn't already known. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Lingering withdrawal symptoms. Exhaustion and malnourishment. Plus some various other minor issues. She had grimaced as the doctor gave Izumi the final diagnostic. The eyeball that she had received from her teacher left her with no doubt that she wouldn't be keeping the Incident a secret any longer._

_After that, a therapist and/or psychologist (she could never really tell the difference) began visiting her once a day. Even though her mind screamed at her to not say anything to him, she decided that she had been reading too many stories and she needed to trust the man. So she did. She told him everything except for the fact that Gabriel Neidel was, in fact, Envy the homunculus. Slowly she began to not overcome, but to learn to deal with the aftermath of the Incident._

_She was in the Dublith hospital for a period of two weeks, during which she had to face someone she _really_ didn't want to see her there._

-O-o-O-

**23 June, 1919**

If the boys had had an issue with Karmyn hiding things from them, the issue was quickly eliminated during their trip to Xing. Sharing a sleeper car for almost two weeks tends to make keeping secrets virtually impossible. The trio of alchemists possibly even learned more about each other in those two weeks than they had in the months that they had been travelling together.

The three of them had met early that morning, deciding that they would all walk to the station together. Karmyn had dropped in on her father briefly to tell him they were leaving, and then they were off. They had arrived at the station only to find that they still had an hour before the train arrived, much to their dismay. They had been waiting on the platform when they were joined by an unexpected fourth person.

_Ava approached them, still dressing in favor of the color black. Karmyn noticed her first, and quickly caught the attention of the two blonds standing beside her. _

"_Ava? What are you doing here?" she inquired, somewhat confused. "I thought you weren't coming with us?"_

"_I changed my mind," the Sin known as Greed said shortly. "I thought about it, and it may be the last chance I get to see my pal Ling. Figured it was the least I could do, after possessing the guy for months."_

"_Where are you going to stay?" Alphonse asked, concerned. "Our room will be tight as it is …"_

"_Oh, don't worry about it, hun. I'm sure I can find some lonely man that would be willing to share."_

_The trio accepted that, but tried not to think of the clear insinuations that their ally had made. Ava didn't stand with them long, choosing to melt back into the shadows. Although the fact she was one of the Sins was nearly undetectable now (due to the absence of a tattoo and philosopher's stone), she still tried to stay out of public view as much as possible._

The train had arrived shortly after, pulling into the station with a screech. This train would bring them to East City, where they would then switch over to the one that would take them across the desert. Although this leg of the journey was also to be a couple nights, they did not have the luxury of a horizontal surface to lie on.

Twice Karmyn awoke to find that she was resting on Al's shoulder. Once she awoke on Ed's. Ed fell asleep on her about three times, and she and Al fell asleep on each other multiple times throughout the trip. Ava would occasionally swing by- sometimes on her own, sometimes with a complete stranger. She sometimes stayed for an hour or two; sometimes she just waved in passing.

The three of them spoke in English for the most part. They discussed the mission and the Homunculi, along with other various alchemical discussions. Things that the general public had absolutely no need to worry about … yet. Karmyn hoped that they could sort the issue with the Sins before things became public, but deep down she knew that they wouldn't be that lucky.

Hours passed, and the alchemists fell into a comfortable silence. Issues had been worked out, and an easy atmosphere surrounded them once more. Karmyn watched the scenery whiz by the window- flashes of green and brown melding together in streaks of color. For the first time in years, she felt almost peaceful.

At this point in time, she was sitting alone on her bench. The Elric brothers sat facing her on the other seat. Well, Alphonse was staring out the window. Edward was once again fast asleep. Karmyn smiled to herself at the relaxed expressions on both their faces. In a burst of inspiration, she pulled out the journal she had been keeping for the past two years. This one was a replica of the one Winry had given her- she had filled the original within months of leaving the Elrics. This one was her fourth- maybe her fifth?

She flipped through the pages filled with words and numbers, with dates and entries and all sorts of alchemical equations. She turned past the pages filled with sketches and drawings that had increased in quality as she had practiced. When she reached a clean page, she took out her pencil and drew.

She captured the scene that lay before her. Her pencil flew across the page as she drew in Edward's sleeping face and the light reflected off Alphonse's eyes. It was just a quick sketch – nothing refined – but Karmyn had found herself sketching moments rather than taking pictures since she had begun her alchemical training.

So concentrated in her work was she that she didn't notice when the younger Elric turned toward her. She started when she realized he was looking at her, but offered him a smile. He smiled back, and motioned to his unconscious brother. It was a struggle for Karmyn to keep from bursting into laughter.

Things were definitely looking up.

Of course, they still had two weeks on a train in the desert to deal with.

The train that would take them across the desert was much different from the one they took to the outskirts of Amestris. The cars were bigger and the train was longer. There was a dining car, some passenger cars, and multiple bunk cars.

Karmyn realized she may have issues when she saw that the three of them were sharing the same sleeper compartment. It wasn't for anything … weird …, but for the fact that she knew she would wake them up with her nightmares. That would lead to questions- questions that she wasn't willing to answer. Not yet, at least.

For the first few nights, she managed to avoid sleeping in the bed that was reserved for her. _I've got some reading to do_, she would say. _Hold on, I just need to finish this calculation_. _I really need to get some staff practice in_. Anything that would delay her going to bed until the Elrics fell asleep, at which point she would just not sleep that night.

It wasn't long, however, before they caught onto her schemes. The dark bags forming underneath her blue eyes didn't help matters, either. Alphonse stopped her one day after dinner, confronting her about it.

"_Karmyn, wait." He said as she began to walk away. When she looked back at him, he lost his nerve a little bit. "Walk with me?" He asked hopefully._

_He could see that she was working things out in her head, wondering if she should accept or not. To his great relief, she nodded and waved Edward onward. When the elder Elric cast him a glance, Al nodded unperceivably. Ed smiled grimly in acknowledgement and walked back to wherever- possibly to discuss things with Ava._

_The two alchemists walked in silence for a while, wandering up and down the length of the train. They had great fun when they came to the car couplings. Al would leap across first and Karmyn would follow close behind, grabbing onto him to regain her balance on the other side. It was later that night that he was actually able to ask her about her sleep habits._

_She visibly stiffened to his question, her blue-green eyes that had been so full of laughter earlier shut down to present a cold glare. Al was afraid that she wouldn't tell him anything. After minutes of silence, he had lost all hope. He had begun to walk back toward their bunk when she spoke._

"_Nightmares," she said simply. "I would wake both of you up. There would be questions and … I don't think I could handle questions. You would try to help me, and that would only make it worse."_

"_Why didn't you just tell us?" Al asked, coming back to sit beside her. "Nightmares are nothing unusual … not with us at least. I can't count the number of times Edward would wake up screaming years – decades, even – after everything. The number of times I would wake up crying after I got my body back. You don't have to pretend to be strong."_

"_You can't touch me when I'm like that," she warned. "Don't even try to speak to me. It will only make it worse, and I can't promise your safety if I lash out."_

_Alphonse smiled wanly. He worried for his friend, but he refused to let it show. She would hate him for eternity if he made a big deal out of everything. "Fine," he said, "If that's what you need, that's what we'll do. Just let us help you. It's the least we can do after everything you've done for us."_

"_I-" she began, but tears welled up in her eyes. She had forgotten just how much she loved her friends. She desperately tried to keep the water from rolling down her cheeks, but it was to no avail._

"_Come on," Al said, bringing her against his side. "It's alright."_

_They stayed like that for hours, until Karmyn had calmed down enough and fell asleep in his arms. She was exhausted after having stayed awake for days on end. It wasn't much longer until Alphonse nodded off as well._

_Edward found them that way hours later, and decided it would be best to leave them._

After the rather embarrassing morning that followed, things began to work out among them again. Sure, both Karmyn and Alphonse were sore from sleeping in such an unnatural pose. And yeah, Edward harassed Alphonse like the big brother he was (out of earshot of Karmyn) about said alchemist. Perhaps there was a little harassing of Karmyn from Ava as well about said event as well. This was never mentioned; however, as both parties pretended it never happened.

Things passed on as usual as they could on a train.

Karmyn began sleeping again. If she woke the Elrics up at any point during their nights together, they said nothing. She had woken them up, she knew that. It's hard not to wake someone up when one screams in their sleep.

During the days, she kept as busy as possible. She had brought multiple alchemy books with her, which she pored over for hours. Sometimes she wouldn't even stop for lunch or dinner. When this happened, she faced being lectured by one of her friends about the importance of keeping proper health. She often attempted to wave them away; she wanted to protest that this was nothing compared to how she had been living while away from them.

She knew that would only end badly if she did.

So she kept her mouth shut and allowed the Elrics to drag her away from her work every once and a while. When she did, she found she had fun. They would play lengthy games of cards or share outrageous stories from before they met. Or rather, the Elrics would. They had over a hundred years' worth of stories to tell. Karmyn only had about fifteen.

And she wasn't yet willing to talk about what had happened in the two years she had been gone. She knew if she came clean with everything while they were still iffy, it may be impossible to go back to the way they were before. No, she would wait until they were almost as close as they had been before.

Then there was Edward's idea that they begin sparring in order to keep their skills up. When Karmyn and Al asked where on the train they would be able to spar, of all things, the answer was 'the roof.'

Karmyn tried to turn him down.

"_You may be comfortable train-walking," she had said, "but there is no way I'm going up there."_

_It wasn't long, however, before she found herself kneeling on the scorching roof. The desert heat beat upon them, and there was nothing but sand around for miles. Edward stood in front of her, standing firmly but comfortably on the curved surface. He was looking toward the front of the train, but not unaware of her predicament. _

_A hand was thrust in front of her face. When she looked up, it was Alphonse offering to help her to stand. She smiled gratefully and took the proffered hand. She wobbled a bit as she stood, moving her hand to his shoulder for stability. _

"_If we fall," she said, "I will honestly never forgive you."_

"_If you fall," Edward replied, "then something will have gone terribly wrong."_

Wow, like that makes me feel any better_, Karmyn couldn't help but think._

_She shed her black jacket, dropping it to rest upon the roof below them. She would be a touch sunburned after this escapade, but that would be better than overheating and passing out instead. She took her gloves off as well in order to free her fingers. They wouldn't be using alchemy, but if Ed decided he wanted to use his blade, she wanted to be ready._

Luckily, they had all survived their little sojourn to the roof. They did return a bit sunburned, but that would fade with time. They might also have had minor burns from where scorching automail came in contact with skin, but if they did, none of them told anyone else. There was no need for anyone to feel guilty about it.

The boys had also learned that while Karmyn's alchemy was fairly powerful, her actual combat skills were subpar once she lost her staff and she had to get close. She wasn't _bad_, but she wasn't nearly as good as either of the Elrics.

-O-o-O-

_As luck would have it, it was in the hospital that she saw Edward for the first time since she had fled. She tried running away. She tried to avoid him. She wasn't ready for this. Not yet, at least. Alas, she had to be ready. He had found her._

_Karmyn tried her best to pretend that she wasn't in the hospital for anything major. She told Edward not to ask, and thankfully he didn't. She didn't ask why he was in Dublith, and he didn't ask her the same question. They talked for a couple minutes before she said she had to go._

_He asked her why._

_As much as she didn't want to say, she told him that she was working on alchemy and that she couldn't be torn away quite yet._

"_Don't tell Alphonse you saw me," she said pleadingly. "Please."_

"_He's been worried sick about you, you know," the elder brother said. _

_Karmyn sighed. "I know," she said quietly. She had guessed that was the case. "This won't be forever," she promised. "I will be back."_

_And thus both parties were forced to walk away from each other pretending nothing had ever happened._

-O-o-O-

To her chagrin, she was caught in the midst of an anxiety attack a few days later. They had never gone away completely, but her body had gradually gotten used to the rate at which time passed on this side of the Gate. They usually caught her once a month, sometimes sooner. She had locked herself in their sleeper car when she felt it coming, hoping that the Elrics would have been too busy elsewhere to stop by.

She wasn't that lucky.

Edward had been the one to find her curled up on her bed, breathing hard to keep from hyperventilating. Thankfully, he had the sense to leave her be and not touch her. He simply sat down beside her and picked up a book. Karmyn knew he was there. Knew he was keeping an eye on her, but she couldn't bring herself to care at that point in time. She just concentrated solely on keeping herself together this time.

_When she finally began to relax, she took a deep breath and unlocked her fingers from around her legs. _

"_How long?" She asked hoarsely, stretching her arms out._

"_About ten minutes since I've been here," Edward replied calmly._

_Karmyn nodded as if that made perfect sense to her, which it did. "Okay," she told him. "Thank you," she said in all seriousness._

_Edward flashed a small smile, putting the book down. "Feeling any better?" he asked, though he knew the answer._

"_Yeah," she said. "I don't get them as often now," she explained, "which is good."_

_She stood up, stretching out her back as well. She turned toward the blond beside her and offered a hand to help him up. The clack of metal filled the room for a second as her fingers met with his ungloved hand. She pulled him to his feet with a new smile on her own face._

"_Come on," she said, "we can't worry Alphonse too much."_

When Al asked where they had been, she had given the truth. She didn't go into the details, but then he didn't need them. Once she had told him 'anxiety attack,' there was need for no more words. Alphonse understood, just as Edward had.

Near the end of their trip, Karmyn had the brilliant idea to teach them of the code she had thought of years before; the one she had used in her message to Mustang at the beginning of this grand adventure. These days also consisted of teaching Ava bits and pieces of English. If she was going to be part of their mission to deal with the Sins, then she was going to have to understand their communications.

Everyone picked up on the code quickly. It took a while to decipher as it changed with each message that was written, but the method was the same with each instance.

Teaching the former Homunculus English proved to be quite interesting. Not infuriating, but interesting. She was quite amused by the homophones and multiple meanings that each word could have. They were lucky in the fact that the sentence structures of English and Amestrian were similar. If Amestrian had actually used the same sentence structure as German, then that would have made things a bit more difficult.

If people cast them odd looks as they passed by them on the train, well, they didn't notice. They were so busy preparing for the task that faced them. Sometimes they all forgot to eat lunch, in which cases Karmyn could get away with it without being lectured.

She snapped pictures sometimes. By some miracle, her iPod had survived the past years relatively unscathed. She still had the power cable Alphonse had made her as well. Sometimes they would break the intense discussion to fight over possession of the little device.

After they explained to Ava what it was, at least.

Their various sunburns from sparring on the roof had faded by the time they pulled into the station at Xing. Everyone's hair was blonder than ever, and Karmyn was sporting a nice tan on her shoulders and down her arms. Ava was just as pale as ever, having stayed inside the train the entire trip.

They arrived at Xing mid-morning about ten days after they had left Amestris. Karmyn could have yelled with joy as they stepped off the train into the hot sun with all their trunks and bags in their hands. As it was, she had to keep an eye out for the person that was supposed to meet them …

And there she was.

"Lan Fan!" She yelled, waving at the woman that was scanning the crowds. The woman's attention quickly turned to the blonde that was waving her down and waited for the group to reach her.

"Lan Fan?" Alphonse asked in surprise, "That's who was meeting us?"

Karmyn nodded. "Ling wouldn't trust anyone else to retrieve his good friends once I told him you were coming with me."

Edward looked at her skeptically. "That means you would have told him we were coming even before we agreed," he accused her.

She flushed at his (completely true) accusation. "Well, yes," she said as they approached the woman in black, "but what was I supposed to do? I'm no one, myself. And I knew that you would end up coming with me," she explained.

"Oh, Ava. They don't know you're coming, but they will be able to tell who you are. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you."

The Sin shrugged. "Don't worry about me, hun. I'll be alright."

They reached the bodyguard a few moments later, whom Karmyn greeted with what she knew to be the correct Xingese bow for the situation.

"You must be Karmyn," Lan Fan said, bowing back. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Edward, Alphonse, it's good to see you again."

Well, they were in Xing now. Whatever happened would happen. Waves would be created, things would change, and perhaps there would be more to things than what first met the eye …

But that would all come in time.

-O-o-O-

_That's that! More pain than it was worth, I swear. It's short, I know … the next one will be longer._

_Please review! This was probably the hardest chapter yet to write, and your feedback means a lot to me :)_

_KarmaHope, signing out._

-O-o-O-

2.8.2013

2.8.2013


End file.
